Councils refusing to abandon ticketless cash grab, despite it being illegal from July

Councils are refusing to stop issuing ticketless parking fines until they are legally forced to do so.

More than 100,000 ticketless parking tickets have been issued to drivers in the Sydney CBD and surrounding suburbs in the five months since councils were told to phase out the practise.

While legislation banning ticketless parking fines was passed in November, it will only come into force in July.

That delay was designed to give councils time to get new equipment and change their protocols.

In November, Finance Minister Courtney Houssos said there was nothing stopping councils issuing old-fashioned parking tickets immediately.

However, The Saturday Telegraph can reveal that Clover Moore’s City of Sydney council has refused, and will keep issuing ticketless parking fines until it is legally forced to do so.

Finance Minister Courtney Houssos has told councils to go back to issuing paper parking fines. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Every single parking fine issued by City of Sydney rangers since November last year has been mailed out to motorists after the fact.

“The City of Sydney undertakes parking enforcement in accordance with the road rules and parking fine and notification regulations set by the NSW Government,” a council spokesperson said.

“Motorists should be aware the current system of paperless fines remains in place until the legislation comes into force on July 1.”

Bayside Council is also continuing to hand out ticketless parking fines, issued by a council car driving around taking photos.

That is preventing Advance Diversity Services in Rockdale from picking up elderly clients to take them for a day out – because there is nowhere to legally park, and they keep getting fined.

Drivers have been fined for stopping for “five minutes or less” in empty bus zones, to help older people into their community bus.

City of Sydney parking inspectors issued more than 100,000 ticketless parking fines since November. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“Many of our clients use walkers or mobility aids,” Advance Diversity Services’ social group program team leader Vicki Megaloudis said.

“They just want to be picked up to have a nice day out. It’s part of their connection to the community.”

Ms Megaloudis said that if a council ranger was issuing traditional parking fines, drivers would be able to “have a conversation” and plead for commonsense.

“We’re here to provide services for the community, we’re not ducking into the shop for ourselves,” she said.

In a statement, Bayside Council said it would stop issuing ticketless parking fines on July 1, and blamed state regulations for the fines issued to Advance Diversity Services for stopping in bus zones.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said “commonsense must prevail” among councils still issuing ticketless fines.

“The NRMA fought hard for a change in this legislation because we wanted to see an end to the days of stealthy, drive by, ticketless parking fines,” he said.

“When we get to the point where critical community services designed to help those most in need are dramatically impacted we know we’ve gone too far.”

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Originally published as Councils refusing to abandon ticketless cash grab, despite it being illegal from July