Man fined $180 for parking across his own driveway after parents park him in during school drop off

A MAN who parked his car across his driveway to stop other drivers doing the same has been slapped with a $180 fine.

Matt Burke with his wife Maria Fernandez and son Alex lives across the street from Ashbury Public School and often gets parked in by parents,

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A GOBSMACKED Ashbury resident has been slapped with a hefty fine and labelled a “serious offender” for parking across his own driveway.

Matt Burke, who lives opposite Ashbury Public School, parked his car across the driveway to stop others doing the same after getting blocked in at busy school pick up and drop off times.

He copped a $180 fine from a council ranger for his trouble — the same level of ­severity handed to drivers who do not obey stop signs in school zones.

Mr Burke said parking can be problematic during the school drop-off and pick-up times and he had been parked into his own driveway by other motorists on many occasions.

“I have to pick up my son from preschool so I can’t take the risk of leaving my car in my driveway because I’ve been parked in so many times,” Mr Burke said.

Mr Burke with wife Maria and son Alex with the parking fine.

Despite putting his case forward to the NSW Office of State Revenue on the phone and in writing, he was told ­leniency is inappropriate for a serious offence.

“OSR may be more lenient if the client lived at the outer limit of the school zone, or the vehicle was parked during non-school zone times,” an OSR spokesman said.

“However in this circumstance, the client lives across the road from the school, which represents a higher risk.”

Mr Burke’s only remaining appeal option is court, but it appears the law isn’t on his side.

Under NSW road rules, a driver must not stop across a driveway for more than two minutes.

Whether the driveway is your own is irrelevant.

“There is no exemption to this rule if the driver is the owner of the property ­adjoining the driveway,” executive director of NSW Centre for Road Safety Bernard Carlon said.

“Parking across a driveway, even if it is your own driveway, is a safety issue as it stops emergency services from having easy access to the property and it can ­obstruct the line of sight for other drivers entering and exiting other nearby properties,” Mr Carlon said.

But Mr Burke is bewildered at the severity of the punishment.

“Fifty per cent of cars in our area don’t obey the speeding signs in the school zone and I get called a serious offender?” he said.

“They’re more worried about parking rules than the safety of children — that is concerning to me.”

A $108 fine applies to a driver who parks across a driveway. If the offence is committed in a school zone, a $180 fine and two demerit points apply to the driver.

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