Got Fine for Clearway starting 3 pm at 3.03pm issued - NSW

jo2055 on 14/02/2017 - 19:28

Hi went with my mother for medical appoitment , come back on my watch 3.01 pm and fine with 3.03 pm on issued fines. Pnly 1 person been aroung ,asked him about parking officer ( could not see them around ) - he told me they was waiting and issued fine ( probably sarting doing it before 3pm ).
I wrote the nice & polite letter to SDRO, but received standard reply ( probably template ).

Just want to ask fellow OzBarginers opinion:

a. Should I pay $253 fine or

b. Should I try using the court asking for leniency ( risking my time and extra $$ if I lost), because 3 min is a grey area - not sure it was a right time used by parking officers ( probly using network time of hand held device non exactly 100% correct ) ?

It is some leniency in speed cameras, but what about time in question ?

Any advice or current experiences are highly appreciated.

Automotive

Comments

  • rambutann on 14/02/2017 - 19:42
    +4

    You're looking it from the perspective of 'it was issued only 3 minutes after it became a clearway'. If I were the ticket person i'd do the exact same thing. At the end of the day, how long do you expect them to wait? At the end of the day its a clearway for a reason and you're lucky that its not a tow away zone.

    That is an awfully hectic expensive fine for parking in a clearway. I had this happen to me once and i think it was less than $100.
    If you do have time on your hands to take it to court then by all means do so - if not then i'd say just to pay the fine.

    Edit: when I say take it to court, I doubt you'd win but you may get some sort of compassion due to the circumstances (which aren't actually that extravagant) but yeah…

  • BigTed on 14/02/2017 - 19:45
    +36

    3 minutes is not a grey area.
    If the clearway starts at 3 - it starts at 3.
    Even on your own story you were late.
    Pay the fine.

    • ronnknee on 16/02/2017 - 09:35

      Agreed.

      come back on my watch 3.01 pm

      What's there to even dispute when OP admits to being late?

  • spackbace on 14/02/2017 - 20:16
    +29

    Judge: Were you parked there after 3pm?
    You: Yes
    Judge: Does the sign state that the clearway starts at 3pm?
    You: Yes
    Judge: …

    • pais on 14/02/2017 - 23:57
      -7

      Judge: And what model phone do you have?
      You: An iPhone.
      Judge: And does this phone automatically set the time for you, such that it would accurately reflect the exact same time as the ranger's device?
      You: .. Yes.
      Judge: ….

      • bobbified on 15/02/2017 - 12:11
        +2

        Judge: And does this phone automatically set the time for you, such that it would accurately reflect the exact same time as the ranger's device?

        The answer to that question would be: How the (profanity) would I know?

        • pais on 15/02/2017 - 23:38
          +1

          Chances are it does when sync itself to internet time at some point in its maintenance cycle. Pretty good chance that their mobile device is going to reflect the same time as yours.

        • DrDollar on 16/02/2017 - 07:00
          +1

          @pais: No idea why you were downvoted. You're just right…

    • pandadude on 15/02/2017 - 11:55
      +1

      You forgot too add the fees for taking it to court.

  • [Deactivated] on 14/02/2017 - 20:37
    +11

    Near me, cars always still parked from 4pm when clearway starts. Tow trucks are there everyday exactly on 4pm, and take them away. Be thankful you weren't towed as well.

  • eatwell365 on 14/02/2017 - 20:40

    I would just suck it up and learn.

    Think of the positive side that your car was not towed away to the side street. Otherwise would be extra couple of hundred dollars on top for towing fee.
    $253 is a bargain. Surprised the fine hasn't gone up for 20+ years.

  • ihbh on 14/02/2017 - 20:57
    +4

    Okay, if they let you off at 3.03pm, then should the next guy that gets pinged at 3.06pm get off because he was just 3 minutes over the new time limit?

    And then what about the next guy and so on?

  • Yorkshire-Man on 14/02/2017 - 21:15

    Agree with the general feedback above. I travel through a big clearway zone that starts at 3pm, everyday just after 3pm they are booking and towing & I totally support it. Starts at 3pm, be gone before then, causes chaos otherwise.

  • poboy on 14/02/2017 - 22:13
    +1

    You are having an emotional response to a rational situation. The Law is rational, you need to meet rational with rational.

    • kolorijo on 15/02/2017 - 08:52

      must be trolling right?

      • hell0 on 15/02/2017 - 09:08

        I'm a Christian sir, I don't troll.

        • Well Wasted on 15/02/2017 - 11:57
          +1

          your mother lives under a bridge…

  • bobbified on 14/02/2017 - 23:30

    A clearway - I think you should be happy your vehicle didn't get towed for being 3 minutes over.

    One car parked in the clearway blocks off a whole lane and inconveniences everyone travelling along that road.

  • doweyy on 14/02/2017 - 23:36
    +1

    Has the ticket got any errors such as wrong car type, wrong rego, wrong colour car etc? If so, you can tell them that the information isn't correct and the fine void.

    My parents got this fine a while back and the ticket had station wagon instead of sedan and dept. of transport voided the ticket because of it.

    • tomsco on 15/02/2017 - 07:39
      +3

      Really? Lots of previous feedback on here says they will just update the details on the fine and reissue.

      • doweyy on 15/02/2017 - 11:30
        +1

        Yep they definitely voided the fine. My dad sent an email to them and said that because they couldn't identify the correct vehicle at the time of writing the ticket then how would they know if it wasn't another one but a mistaken rego. The dept said fair enough and cancelled the full fine!

  • Seraphin7 on 15/02/2017 - 08:44

    It's not uncommon for clearways to be policed strictly. It's harsh, but they've got you. Any further action/discussion will just waste time and $$$$.

  • Euphemistic on 15/02/2017 - 09:12
    +1

    Back in the good old days they probably did give you a couple of minutes leeway to allow for slow watches etc. Now 'everyone' has a mobile phone that syncs it's time you're just out of luck, you should know what time it is and be out of the clearway BEFORE it starts

    • bobbified on 15/02/2017 - 09:37

      I don't think they gave leeway previously because of slow watches, etc. I think they gave the extra few minutes before because they were human and realised that it was just common sense to give people some slack.

      Nowadays, with all the pressure from the top and strict quotas to meet, it's going to be an "us or them" mentality. That is, either write lots of tickets or lose their job.

  • skillet on 15/02/2017 - 10:33

    Consider yourself lucky your car was not tow away! I see tow trucks waiting like an eagle every afternoon.

  • dashy1 on 15/02/2017 - 11:37

    Nothing worse than a car in the clearway slowing down rush hour traffic.

    Pay the fine…. to lesson the pain, apply online to pay in installments :)

  • Architectonic on 16/02/2017 - 04:17

    The alternative to enforcement of strict hours is having a clearway 24/7…

  • DarkOz on 16/02/2017 - 07:05

    I parked in a no parking area(Aus Post) which was directly next to an ATM I was going to use. After a quick 1 minute dash for cash I came back and the parking ranger was half way through writing the fine! He must have camped there and I wasn't happy so I drove off before he puts the fine on my wiper. Received the fine a week later and paid it. I wasn't happy about it but I know I was in the wrong.

  • burningrage on 16/02/2017 - 08:38

    The only thing about this is that I wish we (citizens) could fine them for every stuff ups they committed as vigilant as they do to us.

    For example: Issuing fines on PODS spots for overstaying when you have just arrived there because their google software (yes I know what software they used, they showed it to me) didn't detect a car moving out and a new car coming in as a new session. Happens at Glen Waverley, VIC a lot.

    We can't issue them a "liquidated damages" for the pain/suffering (aka inconvenience) for having to contest/call/debate with the ranger yet they can.

    They can demand perfection from us (ie: 3pm means 3pm, not 3.03pm even though I know in VIC, there is a statutory 5 minutes leeway and again, I know this because I asked them about it) but we can't demand likewise from them.

    So although I know OP is wrong, I do sympathize with him/her.

  • abb on 16/02/2017 - 09:21

    You could try and take it to court and see if they have a provable calibration trail between their clock and the official national clock, but if the parking officer has a mobile phone, or if their ticket-issuing machine has some kind of daily/weekly/monthly/yearly clock synchronization procedure, you're out of luck… Even the shittiest 5c clock will be accurate to within 3 minutes. Mobile phones will be accurate to within a fraction of a second.

  • Geoff-bargain on 16/02/2017 - 22:48

    Here's someone who had a similar thing happen and the judge through it out. In the u.s. Though. https://www.littlethings.com/judge-dismisses-parking-ticket/

  • [Deactivated] on 18/02/2017 - 22:23

    Nearly got our work truck towed the same way. Stop at my house quickly for a thermos refill for everyone and a smoke, and we go outside to find our work ute on a flatbed tow truck. We begged for its release, luckily he had not written it up yet and let us go. It would have been all of 3:05pm. We were quite a tight team after that.

  • Gnosh on 20/02/2017 - 20:42
    +1

    OP should watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxPgia7-QRg&t=0s

  • picklewizard on 21/02/2017 - 12:08

    Yeah bro clearways aren't like getting fined for 2 mins over in a 2P area - there's no grey area here.

    It's like saying "I was only in a no standing zone for three minutes!" Doesn't matter - you weren't supposed to be there at all.

    You're lucky you weren't towed!

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