Gold Coast woman threatened with $806 fine for parking in own driveway

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has weighed in on a woman who claims to have been threatened with an $806 fine after she was found sleeping in a van in her own driveway.

A Gold Coast woman said she was appalled when she received a warning against public camping.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has weighed in on a woman who claims to have been threatened with an $806 fine after she was found sleeping in a van in her own driveway.

In a viral post on TikTok that has now been shared thousands of times, Belinda Lee Rose from Broadbeach Waters revealed she heard a knock at her door at 1.30am late last month, with a council officer handing her a notice for unlawful camping in a public place.

“Did you know it was illegal to sleep in your vehicle,” she asked in the TikTok video.

“I got woken up and they issued me with this notice which carries an $806 fine. Where was I parked? On my property in my driveway. They assumed I was sleeping, for all they know I could have just been reading a book with my aircon on. Can you believe that?”

Belinda told The Courier-Mail she has been living in her vehicle while her Broadbeach Waters home was being built, and described the situation as “appalling.”

“They made me feel as if I was doing something wrong. I don’t do anything wrong, I’m a law-abiding citizen,” she said.

“On my driver’s license it clearly states I live at my address and I stay in a van, also registered to me with my address on it. I was on my property.”

She said the experience was unnerving due to the early-morning interaction.

“I’m a 51-year-old lady and I’m by myself in my van with my dog. I was too scared to open the door,” she said.

“I told my neighbours too, they’re horrified.”

She has since relocated to a friend’s home until the build at her property is complete and has not yet received a fine in the mail.

A Gold Coast City Council spokesperson initially said the city did not comment on individual circumstances.

But after he was shown the video at a media conference on Tuesday, Mr Tate said he would commission a review.

Mr Tate said there was “always two sides to the story” and that council staff would only have acted after a complaint.

“Let’s take the lady’s words as fact and if that is the case, I will ask the CEO to review it and if it is correct, the fine should be waived,” he said.

“Let me be clear though, council only reacts on a complaint but whether she is sleeping or not, I don’t know. We’ll have to ask the council officer, excessive snoring may be the case, I don’t know.

“My sympathy is there and if that is all correct, I would encourage the CEO to waive the fine.”

Council by-laws require people staying on their property while a house is built to get a camping permit.

Concerns about illegal camping can be reported via Report a Problem on the City’s app or at https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/Services/Report-pay-apply/Report-a-problem.

It comes as Brisbane City Council faced backlash earlier this month after announcing people experiencing homelessness will no longer be allowed to camp in public places, and less than a month after Moreton Bay Council similarly banned unlawful camping.