Gold Coast council parking fines: Almost 2000 issued in Easter blitz

Council have been branded ‘grinches’ after dishing out more than $200,000 worth of parking fines over the Easter long weekend, with new analysis showing their tickets are among the costliest in Queensland. SEE HOW THEY COMPARE

Council have granted themselves a tasty Easter treat, raking in more than $200,000 by dishing out 2000 parking fines - about 500 per day - for the public holiday long weekend.

Between Good Friday and Easter Monday, officers issued 1997 tickets for offences including overstaying the meter, parking on nature strips and parking on yellow lines.

The minimum fine for a parking offence on the Gold Coast is $103, meaning council’s haul is at least $205,000. Because some infringements attract bigger penalties, the actual figure will be higher.

It comes as Bulletin analysis shows the City of Gold Coast issues some of Queensland’s most expensive fines.

For parking on a grass verge, which annually catches thousands of motorists in crowded suburban streets, council stings people $193.

The equivalent offence costs $103 in Logan, $116 in Brisbane and $154 in Redlands.

A total of 129 of those fines were dished out on Easter’s long weekend, netting council almost $25,000 from unsuspecting motorists.

Stuart Surf Design owner Stuart Smith pretending to eat the parking ticket he received from Gold Coast City council. Picture: Glenn Campbell.

Stuart’s Surf Shack owner Stuart Smith and his daughter were among the victims, getting fines for parking with wheels on the grass outside his Mermaid Waters home on Easter Monday.

“We’re close to the Gold Coast Highway. We get people parking out the front all day on a weekday when they’re going to work. They’re out the front of my house every day parked illegally,” Mr Smith said.

“Council might come around once every six months but for some reason, on a public holiday, they had to come around and get me when I had all my family around.

“It’s disappointing they’re trying to capitalise on families getting together over the Easter break.

“It just sounds like a bunch of grinches having a real go at the ratepayers.”

Mr Smith said being fined $193 for having two wheels on grass outside his own house, the area was particularly galling when Lime bikes - which don’t attract fines - litter the same area.

“Those things are left abandoned on my front lawn every day,” he said.

“Sometimes for a week. And there’s not a word. No council fines, no parking infringements. People are falling over them, older people, people with prams.”

Cars with tickets on their windshields and a Lime bike outside Stuart Smith's home on Sovereign Drive in Mermaid Waters on Easter Monday.

The ticket left on Stuart Smith's car outside his home on Sovereign Drive in Mermaid Waters on Easter Monday.

Theodore MP Mark Boothman said the hefty fines for parking with two wheels on grass was regularly raised with him by residents.

It was a particular problem in narrow suburban streets, where residents were caught between not wanting to be fined and not wanting to potentially block the path of emergency services, he said.

Unlike the Gold Coast, Logan council allows for cars to park on nature strips where roads are less than six metres wide so long as pathways are not blocked.

“We are potentially putting people’s lives at risk,” Mr Boothman said.

“It has happened before where ambulances have had trouble getting to locations because the roads are clogged with vehicles.

“Hence Logan City Council have actually done the smart thing by implementing some leeway, for public safety reasons, to allow their residents to park on the verges.”

Theodore MP Mark Boothman. Picture: Keith Woods.

Mr Boothman urged council to reconsider its strategy of dishing out the fines in suburban areas in light of the brutal cost of living issues affecting many residents.

“As cost of living has been increasing, it is forcing more and more people to live in a single dwelling, so more cars are attached to that dwelling. You can’t physically park them all on driveways and in garages. There’s just too many cars,” he said.

“As part of cost of living relief, we need to be smarter about this and give flexibility.

“Council needs to do their part to help families during these very tough times. They need to give leeway.”

Council’s $200,000 Easter holidays fines blitz comes after the Bulletin on Wednesday revealed how thousands of homeowners, many already grappling with higher mortgage costs, face the possibility of a big increases in their rates bills after a huge jump in land valuations.

Valuer-General Laura Ditrich said high levels of interstate and overseas immigration and “infrastructure development” had contributed to the increases, which were above 40 per cent for homeowners in many northern and western suburbs.

In relation to the parking fines, a council spokesperson said: “The City monitors parking and undertakes enforcement activities across the entire Gold Coast area to promote pedestrian safety, reduce traffic congestion, and ensure equitable access to parking for locals and visitors alike.

“Over the Easter long weekend City officers issued 1997 infringement notices. The majority of infringements were issued for non-payment of a meter, exceeding timed parking, and stopping in areas designated no stopping or marked with a yellow edge line. City officers issued 129 infringement notices to vehicles stopped on a footpath / nature strip in a built-up area.”

Following local government elections on March 16, a new council will be sworn in on Friday.

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