A tradie has vowed to take a council to court after claiming he was unfairly slugged with a $320 fine for temporarily parking his car.
Mark Fricker was fined after briefly parking in a bus zone outside his house at Newcastle, on the NSW North Coast, in September.
Mr Fricker claims he was simply getting out of his ute to open the gate on his driveway so he could then drive his car in.
The two wheels on the left of the ute were on the nature strip while the right wheels were in the gutter, which was technically in the bus zone.
Mr Fricker thought nothing of it until a fine came in the mail 10 days later.
The penalty notice was generated by the council’s mobile licence plate recognition technology, which are cameras attached to council cars patrolling the streets to monitor parking offences.
Mr Fricker argued if a ranger was present commonsense would have prevailed and he wouldn’t have been fined.
‘If it had been a person and not a car, they wouldn’t have issued the fine,’ Mr Fricker said.
‘If a ranger had seen me park there, get out and open the gate, and move the car in, he wouldn’t have worried about it.
‘He could see that I’m not a threat or danger to a bus, or passengers getting on or off, so it wouldn’t have happened.’
The City of Newcastle Council would not comment on the matter and Mr Fricker will fight the fine in court next month.
Just two months after Mr Fricker was fined, the Minns Government passed laws decreeing that all fines issued by inspectors must be made on-the-spot with a ticket left on the vehicle and a photo taken of the offence, unless it is unsafe to do so.
NSW finance minister Courtney Houssos said last year if councils weren’t willing to provide a ‘common-sense fix’ and stop ticketless fines, the government would step in.
‘The current implementation of the ticketless parking system has eroded trust in the parking fine system,’ Minister Houssos said.
‘Providing immediate notification to drivers is the right thing to do.’
Motoring group NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury said ticketless fines had ‘robbed’ motorists.
‘Ticketless parking leaves motorists in the dark and robs them of the chance to contest their fine if they believe they have a legitimate case,’ Mr Khoury said.
‘The NRMA has been against this approach from day one.’
Ticketless parking fines were a huge money maker for councils.
There was a 49 per cent rise in ticketless parking fines issued in NSW during the 2023-24 financial year, raking in $158 million for councils.
That figure was up 54 per cent on the previous financial year.