‘Every little bit helps’: Parking meter act stuns
A criminal act on parking meters that was committed by fed-up motorists has sparked a debate online.
On the Road
Don't miss out on the headlines from On the Road. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Footage shows the moment a motorist laughs as he approaches a set of parking meters that were destroyed by fed-up beachgoers — a criminal act that was praised by some Aussies.
The driver took footage of the defaced machines found next to a beach in the UK. The parking meters were painted in blue and had a substance that appeared similar to hardened glue protruding from them.
The motorist can be seen flicking the coin slot area and attempting to press buttons on the machines — which did not work due to the substance poured over them.
Footage also shows a vandalised sign displaying the words “free parking, every little bit counts”.
The video, posted on the Its_called_staya Instagram page, included the caption: “Who ever did this dropped your (crown emoji)”.
Despite the criminal nature of the act, fellow road users — including many Aussies — praised the parking meter shenanigans on Instagram.
“Not all super heroes were capes!” one overjoyed driver commented.
“Good job … Sydney needs it the most,” wrote a frustrated Australian.
Some eagle-eyed viewers pointed out that the location of the video.
“That’s UK,” one person wrote.
Another agreed: “Yep, Cornwall (in England’s south-west).”
A third concurred: “That’s actually Cornwall.”
While another commenter wondered about what material was poured on the machines: “A&B foam when mixed pours like water and expands better than cavity foam”.
However, others were not thrilled about the defaced meters, pointing out that we will all likely be paying for this act sooner or later.
“We’ll end up paying for it eventually,” one person said.
“In Townsville the council has a paid parking app, so they will just fine you anyway even if someone destroys the meter,” added another. “This is why they are all moving to app based parking.”
In Australia, many local councils are moving to cashless parking meters. Last month, North Sydney Council began rolling our new parking meters which have a tap-and-go system after noting that those parking with coins were only one in every 26 people.
Plan to scrap annoying act drivers hate
It comes as NSW councils have been told to stop issuing ticketless parking fines or face intervention from the state government after the sneaky fines exploded by more than 270,000 between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
The system, which was first introduced in 2020, means drivers are not immediately notified of parking fines, with the government arguing the scheme doesn’t deter drivers from committing parking infringements and fails to meet community expectations.
It prompted NSW Finance Minister Courtney Houssos to write to councils in March this year; however, she said newly released data showing the increase in parking fines and exploding parking ticket revenue was proof there was a “need to act”.
Figures released by the state government revealed ticketless fines had increased by 49 per cent from 551,411 in 2022/23 to 822,310 in 2023/24, while traditional fines decreased by 22 per cent (716,148 in 2022/23 to 558,634 in 2023/24).
Revenue generated from the paperless charges also increased by 54 per cent ($55,141,305) to $158,015,513 in the 2023-24 financial year, with revenue of all fine formats increasing by 14 per cent to $253,606,381.
“I think at a time when families and households are under enormous pressure that it’s more important than ever that we have a fare system that offers immediate notification for drivers,” she said.
Ms Houssos said she wouldn’t rule out naming and shaming belligerent councils who failed to respond to the government’s edict; however, she praised local governments who had implemented workarounds like cards with QR codes.
“The principle, for me is that the driver receives an immediate notification,” she said.
“We’ve tried to be quite flexible about the way that we do that, taking on-board that there may be some costs that are associated, but it’s clear we have to act.”
As it stands, about 50 out of 128 councils across the state have opted into the ticketless program, with 30 councils indicating to Revenue NSW that they have either already implemented, or plan to implement, an instant on-the-spot notification system.
— with NCA Newswire
Originally published as ‘Every little bit helps’: Parking meter act stuns
Horror moment woman, girl struck by car
Dashcam has captured the horrifying moment an elderly woman and young girl were struck by a car crossing an intersection in Sydney’s southwest.
Four dead in 24hr car crash nightmare
One state is reeling from a concentrated blast of car crash tragedy, with four people dead in just 24 hours.