Bureaucratic buck passing leaves stranger’s car parked across a St Peters family’s driveway for seven days
A RANDOM silver Holden Astra convertible has been frustrating the hell out a St Peters’ family who have been parked into their home for a week.
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A FRUSTRATED family has been battling bureaucracy to take action to remove a car that has been parked across its driveway for seven days.
Despite calling police and the Inner West Council to complain, the Holden Astra has prevented the Gulabovski family from driving into their property on Sutherland St, St Peters since last Thursday night.
While police officers and council rangers visited Katrina Gulabovski’s home, she said they could not agree who had responsibility for getting the silver soft-top out of the way.
“The police and council were buck passing this issue while all we wanted was to get the car out of the way,” she said.
“I spoke to the police from Newtown and they said it was the council’s job to get the car moved.
Then I rang the council and they said they couldn't move it, it was a police responsibility.
“Six days later and the car is still here. “It’s ridiculous and frustrating.
“I’m a single mum with three kids and an elderly mother who needs regular medical visits.”
An exasperated Ms Gulabovski said her household has three cars — she has two adult children — that have been unable to get into their own driveway.
“We’ve all had to find spots on the street for the past week, and they’re not easy to find.
“We were worried about getting parking fines because most of the streets around here have a two-hour limit.
“There should be a streamlined process between the police and the council so that the car is moved straight away, not seven days later.”
Ms Gulabovski suggests the car’s owner might have parked in Sutherland St and then caught a taxi to Sydney Airport, which is only a few minutes away by road.
“People catching planes park around here all the time to save money on parking at the airport.”
Newtown Police duty officer Andrew Garner confirmed Ms Gulabovski called police and that officers immediately notified the council.
Inspector Garner said police also issued a parking fine and attempted to contact the vehicle’s owner.
The fine for parking across a driveway, unless the car is dropping off or picking up passengers, is $108.
“As soon as police were notified we contacted the council so it could make arrangements to move the car,” Inspector Garner said.
But is was not until Tuesday, September 7, before council officers stuck a notice on the car’s windscreen, advising its owner that it would tow the vehicle away and would bill the owner for the job.
Under the NSW Impounding Act a vehicle may be impounded immediately, without having to notify its owner, if the vehicle is in a public place and it is causing an obstruction to traffic.
At 7.30am on Wednesday a tow truck driver contracted by council arrived to move the car. But the vehicle could not be moved because it had a flat tyre.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Ms Gulabovski was still waiting on another tow truck to arrive.
When asked to clarify which organisation had responsibility for moving the car, the council did not improve Ms Gulabovski’s understanding of the situation.
“Responsibility depends on the individual circumstances,” a council spokeswoman told The Inner West Courier.
“Both police and council do have certain responsibilities in a situation like this under the Roads Act.
“It is partly dependent on whether the car is ‘abandoned’ or not.”
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