I thought this Brisbane parking rule was flexible. Now I’m $322 poorer

Norman Park, on the Cleveland Line, is a truly lovely train station: friendly signage, a looked-after garden, and a waiting room with a jaunty collection of posters and art prints.

Most importantly, you can always find a parking space in an adjacent residential street when the car park is full, which is often, now that 50¢ fares are a hit.

Last Tuesday, however, I got back to my vehicle to find I’d earned myself a $322 parking ticket. That’s roughly a year’s worth of 50¢ fares spent in one day. What Steven gives, Adrian takes back.

In the 2023-24 financial year, 170,677 parking fines worth $34.35 million were issued by Brisbane City Council.Credit: Eddie Jim

I’m not making excuses. My Honda overshot a driveway by about 10 centimetres, and I didn’t think it mattered. I was a dill. But the words on the infringement notice stung a bit: “Offence: Stop on or across a driveway.”

You’d think I was blocking the way – I wasn’t blocking anything, was I? And $322 seemed a bit steep for an arguably victimless crime.

OK, so maybe I am making excuses. I hate bad parking as much as anyone.

Council’s Guidance for Residential Parking says: “The most common situations where vehicles are found to be parked in an unlawful manner include … across a driveway or preventing access to a property.”

A diagram from Brisbane City Council’s Guidance for Residential Parking fact sheet.Credit: Brisbane City Council

So yes, technically I was parked across a driveway – but I wasn’t preventing access to a property.

What defines “across”? Given that the aprons of driveways can poke outwards quite a way, at what point is a vehicle in breach – 10 millimetres, 100 millimetres? 1 millimetre?

“There is no minimum width for an illegally parked vehicle,” Civic Cabinet Chair for City Standards Sarah Hutton said in response to my query.

However, David Fitzgerald, principal lawyer at XL Legal, a firm specialising in criminal, DV and traffic matters, thinks I might have a case.

“If a road user could still utilise that driveway and have safe and practical passage of it, you could argue that your car is not technically blocking that driveway,” he said.

“You’re not necessarily losing anything by contacting the issuing authority and saying: these are my thoughts on the circumstance, would you consider retracting the infringement?

“Whereas, if you decide to take it to the Magistrates Court and are found guilty, you will also have to pay an offender levy for the privilege [$138.10].”

In the 2023-24 financial year, 170,677 parking fines worth $34.35 million were issued by Brisbane City Council, an increase from the 168,042 fines issued the previous year.

Brisbane City Council parking offences and fines – examples

Parking for longer than indicated by a parking sign: $120

Parking in a signed no parking zone: $161

Stopping on a freeway: $241

Stopping at the side of a road marked with a yellow edge line: $322

Stopping on a clearway: $483

Stopping in a parking area for people with disabilities without displaying a current permit: $645

Parking fines are calculated on a base “penalty unit”. As of July 1, 2024, the value of a penalty unit is $161.30, up from $154.80, and actual fines now range from $80 up to $645.

Brisbane City Council Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy told this masthead that the last council budget saw fees and charges, including parking fines, rise by twice as much as the rates increase.

“During a cost-of-living crisis, the last thing Brisbane residents need is the cost of fines to go up,” Cassidy said.

“Maybe [council] should spend a bit more on footpaths and bike paths to get people to and from public transport.”

Obstructing access to and from a footpath or driveway attracts a fine of two penalty units.Credit: Nick Dent

From August 5 to September 8, the state government’s 50 cent public transport fares saved south-east Queenslanders $36.8 million.

Council wouldn’t be drawn on whether they had sent more inspectors to check streets surrounding train stations since fares were reduced.

If you’re issued a fine you think is unfair, the first step is to dispute it online. The council website helpfully lists scenarios where you might be successful – none of which applied to me.

Nor did I think to obtain any evidence that might have helped, like a photo of where my car was parked. (Like I said: dill.)

“It’s notoriously difficult to get parking fines overturned,” Fitzgerald cautioned. “Photographic evidence would almost be a necessity.”

I paid the bloody fine.

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