Retailers lash out at Boroondara Council ticket inspectors

More than 23,000 parking fines have been dished out by a council in Melbourne’s leafy inner east in the past financial year — in just two shopping areas. And there are fears overzealous ticket inspectors are driving customers away.

Boroondara Council scooped up more than $600,000 in parking fees and almost $2 million in fines from shoppers in two of its most popular shopping strips.

Figures show the council dished out more than 23,000 parking fines in the Camberwell Junction and Glenferrie Rd shopping precincts last financial year.

This amounted to more than $1.9 million in fine proceeds for the council, and it collected $621,738 in paid parking revenue in the same period.

The figures come as customers and traders in Camberwell Junction and Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, complain limited parking and overzealous ticket inspectors are putting the squeeze on businesses.

Hawthorn shopper Peggy Lasa said she’d noticed the number of vacant stores in Glenferrie Rd grow and parking was an issue.

The area needed a “spruce up” to attract shoppers and she said she’d raised the issue with the council.

“The pavements are dirty, particularly near the station and Woolworths mall area, there are works on (the) Glenferrie Rd footpath which are unfinished, many of the shop veranda’s leak when it rains,” she said.

Jo Brodie said people tried to support small businesses but the amount the council charged for parking was too much.

Blue Illusion Hawthorn store assistant Maria Mazzeo said “grey ghosts” were quick to book customers and on-street timed parking restrictions needed be relaxed.

“Do you know how many people say they won’t come back because they got a ticket?” Mrs Mazzeo said.

Customers are getting pinged by parking inspectors for trying to shop locally.

While Natalie Adler of The Chocolate Box and Kaitie Cushing of Brava Lingerie on Burke Rd, Camberwell, said customers were sometimes forced to rush their shopping because of timed parking restrictions in Camberwell Junction.

“They don’t spend the time or money they might otherwise have spent,” Ms Adler said.

Kerry Daly of the Camberwell Centre Association said she’d asked Boroondara Council to increase the current one-hour on-street parking restrictions but was rebuffed.

Glenferrie Traders Association marketing manager Steve Williams said Melbourne was once known for its thriving shopping strips but they were beginning to fade, and he was working with the council to address parking and amenity problems.

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Information provided by the council noted it was reviewing parking fees in Camberwell Junction, and businesses were supported through advertising in the council’s magazine, marketing campaigns and business development workshops.

Boroondara Council spokesman Shiran Wickramasinghe said most parking spaces in Camberwell Junction were free and parking inspectors were needed to ensure fair access to parking.

Fine revenue was injected back into the community through council services and infrastructure projects, he said.

“Parking fines do provide revenue to (the) council but we would rather have compliance with parking restrictions because that will mean every shopper or visitor will have their fair share of access to parking,” he said.