Councils Way More on The Ball with Fines

Might just be my luck recently or some kind of perception bias but it seems councils are a lot more on the ball with parking fines, like they have some guy just around the corner.

Got like 3 fines this week.

1 because loading zone was changed from ending at 6:30 PM to 4:30PM the week before and I didn't look, parked at 4:40PM, fined at 4:55PM.
1 for being over time 10 minutes.
1 for picking up my Indian food for 1 minute in a no standing zone at Royal E Punjab on Sydney Road Brunswick.

Moreland City Council seems to be the one on the ball and always wins the cake for having guys drive around and just take photos from their cars.

Do they have the electronic sensors in the no standing zones?

Comments

  • +21

    I mean, all 3 fines are valid because they were your own fault.

    But in saying that, rangers have always been micro-managing hot spots and hiding to catch people out. It's nothing new.

    • +1

      Not contesting the fines. Just surprised how fast they are these days. Think with age i'm just getting super careless and not giving a fk. Rather this than constant anxiety like when I was younger.

      The micro managing hot spots is something I never considered.

      • +1

        I totally get what you mean, we all disobeyed signs, even myself.

        I got fined for parking 2 minutes over a loading zone ticket and I got fined in a quiet residential/business area for double parking cause I was waiting for a workmate to go to work at 10am, I was parked for less than 2 minutes.

        Either you just got some bad luck this week or maybe there are more rangers out there catching people out. No one can really tell but park safe next time… not worth the fines.

      • Rather unlucky as well

      • +2

        Council probably have cameras and rangers get alerted from control

    • +1

      They hide out on the Northern Beaches in the car parks in plain white utes. When someone parks, they run out, check if they have a label or ticket, then run back and wait for the next one. They are dirty rotten…..

  • +5

    Have you been risking it previously and not received fines?

  • +11

    Got like 3 fines this week.

    Good… Have you considered not parking like an arsehole? Seems like a common solution to most parking issues…

    • -7

      I actually do perfect parking.

      The third fine in no standing was definitely with intention on my part.

      Downvote away.

      • +3

        Well you can do perfect parking in an illegal parking spot. Either way it's illegal.

    • -2

      Wow I can't believe this gets up voted as it did.

      Bad parking is not the same as disobeying signs. No one likes it when someone doesn't park between the lines or has their car way out of position, but people are all for calling OP an arsehole for his behaviour?

      People need a look in the mirror before judging. He who is without sin may cast the first stone

      • Bad parking is not the same as disobeying signs.

        Agreed… but disobeying parking signs is bad parking. It often causes inconvenience for others, congestion and/or unsafe traffic environments, the very thing the parking signs are trying to alleviate.

        but people are all for calling OP an arsehole for his behaviour?

        Yes, because OP is getting tickets, and this is usually from being an inconsiderate, entitled arsehole by over staying parking time limits, parking in places that make it unsafe or that causes congestion. (OP even admits of parking in a no stopping zone intentionally…)

        He who is without sin may cast the first stone

        I have had my license and have been driving for over 30 years… in my 30+ years of driving, I have only ever received a single parking ticket in all that time. I was parked 30cm into a “no stopping zone” due to the sign being obscured and the car in front of me parking over their parking bay line. I took it to court and the magistrate tossed it out.

        So, yeah, the only ticket I ever got for a parking fine was tossed, so, I am looking in this mirror and passing judgment… I have gone 30+ years without a single ticket that I have had to pay and only ever being issued a ticket in total. OP got 3 tickets in the matter of weeks… I got 1 in 30 years and that was enough to stop me from parking like an arsehole.

        Traffic fines are optional. They are not unreasonable. Parking fines even less so. They are not “ReVeNuE rAiSiNg” based on the fact that in 30+ years, I have never once had to actually pay a parking fine… they are totally an “opt in” system and are more of a “toll” than they are a “fine”. You want to park like a (fropanity), then you just have to pay a toll. Dont want to pay the toll, don’t park like a (fropanity). It really is that simple…

        So, yeah, don’t mind me, I’ll just be over here casting stones at sinners…

  • Op, Im sorry to say, there is no sympathy for this in Ozb. Next time, try not to hog the car parking spots.

    • +6

      OP is not looking for your sympathy

    • no sympathy

      Frigtening to know someone deeply enjoys someone else misadventure.

      • People get off of other people's misadventures. It's a way for them to feel superior.

        • -1

          *sips on my cup of schadenfreude*

    • +15

      Congratulations! You win the award for this weeks dumbest comment. 🥇

  • +3

    Potentially sounds like OP often breaks the road rules for parking and is now getting caught for it.

    Even if not the case, how long does OP think it's okay to park illegally for?

  • +3

    No standing? I thought they stopped using that signage and its all no stopping now.

    Anyhow, hope youve learned a lesson and park prolerly in the future. Theres a reason they have restrictions, and its not just for revenue.

    • Maybe that was just NSW

  • So they are living up to the more part of moreland

    • +1

      No they are making merry in Merri-bek.

  • they used to call them grey ghosts for a reason

  • They're probably following you around

    • The twist is he was the meter maid the whole time.

  • -1

    *Merri-bek

  • +1

    Get a push bike. There's no time limits on parking them.

  • +1

    Take your plates with you when you park. No plates, no fine. :)

    • Or cover them with a cloth of some kind … it is done overseas!!!

  • In my local area, they use sensors, so parking enforcement may appear about 5 minutes after your parking time has expired

    • Parking sensors make it easy to know the state of each parking bay with accuracy, but they’re not used to call inspectors when one car just infringed the rules

  • Maybe there were CCTVs. I got fined once for dropping off a passenger at the Monash Caulfield bus stop near the train station.

    • I could've sworn they might be trialing AI over CCTV or something to issue fines. Haven't been fined yet but quite a few people around me complaining.

      • AI + Mass surveillance = Game over.

        60 seconds too late getting back to the car after an appointment? Bad luck pal. AI got you. Just wait till it creeps into other parts of your life. Receiving fines in the mail will be a weekly occurrence.

  • +1

    "Might just be my luck recently"

    You call getting fined 3 times in a wee, lucky????

    • +2

      Imagine the ones he hasn't been fined for

  • +2

    Come to Terrigal NSW, I see the same cars and motorhomes in a 2hr parking zone all day and sometimes for a few days without being moved. F150 parking across 2 small car spots, people making up their own parking spots on corners and in no standing areas. Vehicles driving the wrong way around The Haven which is a one way loop.
    The whole Central Coast is becoming lawless, minimal policing, only see cops when crime is actually committed, and no fines being issued as the council has been broke so cut costs.

  • +1

    You can't blame councils for maximising opportunities in times of adversity.

  • Absolutely agree that some council rangers are faster than some.. and to be fair.. I’m glad… at least we know they’re doing their job…. Increasing revenue to pay for the facilities in their / my area, instead of raising my council rates.

    • They're not raising your rates?

    • +1

      This is a valid point.

      Only a few people answered my actual question. The rest just wrote without even reading such is the way.

    • Don't they already increase it by the max allowed each year? On top of having a bunch of other nonsense fees and fines like the pet registration one.

      I don't see them doing anything impactful with all that extra revenue. Hard waste still takes ages to collect, Sydney Rd never got that overhaul…

  • +2

    I wish your council guys were in the Bankstown area, some idiots double park because their wives/ GF have gone to shops and idiots wave their hands to car behind them to go across the other side of the road to pass them, even though there is car space just 3 cars ahead of them.

    The Moms go deliberately slow near the school zone during drop off and pick up without considering traffic build up and stop with double blinkers to pick up or drop kids.

    • Bankstown traffic is a special kind of nuts.

  • +1

    Revenue Collection has no limits and is not just restricted to the ones from "speeding, seat-belts and phones".

    It works very productively bringing gazillions for doing absolutely nothing so it will never stop … unless we stop giving the a'hols the opportunity to book us. Up to us really.

    Confirming your assessment of "smarter proactive Council booking revenue collection", in Gold Coast, QLD, they drive around with a vehicle that looks a bit like like the Google Street View one, loaded and fitted with various cameras and they just take photos of the infraction. High productivity indeed. Revenue collection by the minute …

    • If there were limits on revenue collection it should be in relation to the size and scope of the problem being created. Better still, you'd think that all these millions being raised should be spent to create better and more available parking for everyone. But that would cut off the source of the revenue so it wouldn't be feasible.

  • +1

    hard luck man… everyone is out there to get your money. be careful out there. cheers!

  • I was told there’s a 15 minute grace period by an enforcement officer in South Melbourne. Moreland City Council sounds a bit greedy, pinging you after 10 minutes.

    • This is like saying the cops got me for going 110 in a 100 zone. But it's bs because I should be able to speed to 115 before getting a fine

      • No, it’s not like that at all. I suggest you read things before you reply to them.

        • It is, they don't have to give a grace period.

  • -2

    When people realise public servants are organisations to leech of the poor..

    Also realising how dumb a lot people being brainwashed to believing police is all good, but it’s just another organisation serving the rich to go after the little people, cause they can’t touch the super rich, their revenue comes from the poor if u think.

    • -1

      Traffic fines are opt-in by their very nature. There is a big book of rules that you signed off on to agree to when you got your license and they gave you a license based on the understanding that you adhere to these rules…

      If you follow the rules, the ones that you agreed to when you got your license, you don’t get fined.

      Traffic fines are tolls for cutting corners and taking shortcuts or jumping a queue. If you want to work outside the rules, you just have to pay a toll.

      So no, they are not “making revenue from the poor”, because the “poor” also have the same rights as the rich when it comes to NOT paying the tolls the road pirates are trying to slap them with.

      Opt-in, speed, park like a (fropanity), cut down the emergency lane, pay the toll. Don’t opt-in and follow the rules you agreed to, don’t have to pay the tolls. Simples! *meerkat chirps*

      InB4: yOuSe aRe aLL jUs bOoTLiCkErZ!

  • +1

    Learning curve not too good hey?

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