Parking Fines are Going Back to Paper Copy on the Windscreen
Many readers will be familiar with the recent trend for parking officers, typically Council staff, to see a parking offence, take a photo and then send the fine in the mail. This has been occurring statewide.
It has been my experience, communicating with a large number of people that feel hard-done-by in terms of the fine that was issued, that some fines have been issued without an understanding of why the offence was happening at that time. For example, a person pulling up in front of their front gate, to open the gate, leaves their car for a very short time, blocking the footpath; or dropping off an elderly and disabled person as close of possible to their home front door also creates a short moment of offence; or a car that is temporarily on the wrong side of the road parked opposite to traffic flow, only because they had been in a car accident and were exchanging details with the other driver.
What does any of this have to do with the local State MP, you may well be asking yourself, given that the fines are issued by Council. And that is a fair question. But in practice, some Councils use Revenue NSW to pursue payment of the fine and resolve the matter. Hence, this puts Revenue NSW as the body that would decide whether or not a fine is worthy and enforced after consulting with the issuing body.
It is important to note, that almost every cent and dollar collected by Revenue NSW, for a local Council, comes back to the local Council as a form of income for them. Only a small administrative fee is shaved off by Revenue NSW.
The act of taking a photo and sending out the fine in the mail has come to an end. As of 1 July 2025, fines for parking offences will now require a paper copy to be issued on the spot, except in instances where the parking officer deems it unsafe to issue the fine immediately.
The consequence of this will, I believe, lead to those very simple and short term offences resolving themselves prior to the fine being issued, or, that the parking officer becomes aware of the context of an offence and uses discretion to not issue the fine in the first place.
At my end, I certainly hope that I have less complaints and less paperwork to chase up as a result of a person receiving a parking fine in circumstances that can be easily explained as requiring some flexibility.