Kew fine: Man slams parking officer’s approach

A MAN fined $200 for parking under a tree says his dashcam proves the officer could have acted differently.

TACTICS employed by parking officers have been slammed by a man booked for illegally parking at his son’s footy match in Kew.

But Boroondara Council says the officer who booked the Blackburn man acted in line with council procedures.

Michael Pape said he was shocked when he got a $200 fine in the mail after parking at Victoria Park, Kew, on Sunday, June 25.

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Mr Pape was unable to find parking at the busy sportsground and parked under a tree.

He was unaware he had been fined until the Boroondara Council notification arrived in the post.

Mr Pape said he checked his car dashcam — which remained running — at the time when the fine was recorded and saw a man nearby taking notes while Mr Pape was still sitting in the car.

Mike Pape says he will pay the fine, because he was parked illegally, but believes parking officers should change their approach. Picture: Mark Dadswell

“I couldn’t work out what had happened, there’s no signage and there was no-one around, so I thought,” he said.

“So I checked the dashboard cam on my car and as soon as I’d left the car a man dressed in black and carrying a notebook stepped out from behind a tree.

“I knew it happened at that time because the fine said I was illegally parked at 9.21am.”

Mr Pape said while he would pay the fine as he was technically illegally parked, it was important people were aware it could happen to them.

“He obviously saw me get out of the car, so he should have approached me and handed me the infringement notice, or if he knew I was illegally parked, asked me to move the car,” Mr Pape said.

“Perhaps if he had have approached me, though, he would have missed the opportunity to fine the next sucker.”

A still from Mr Pape’s dashcam footage shows the inspector taking notes.

Boroondara acting director of city planning Fiona Banks said the officer observed vehicles parked on the grassed area within the reserve, with drivers illegally mounting the concrete kerb to gain access.

“As a result some vehicles received infringements, however the officer was able to speak to two drivers who moved their vehicles and a third driver observed what was happening and chose to move theirs,” Ms Banks said.

“The workers are not instructed to work in a covert manner. The advice received from the officer is that he was standing in a grassed area taking photos of the vehicles for the purpose of preparing infringement notices to be served by post.

“This method is often used at events to minimise potential conflicts and ... the use of photographs and posting of infringement notices is common where there are high numbers of vehicles, particularly around sporting venues and schools.”

It comes as Boroondara Council revealed it had reaped $10.3 million in parking fines in the latest financial year.

“Parking enforcement is critical to ensuring the sharing of car parking spaces throughout our city by shoppers, visitors and residents alike (and) this income funds these operations,” Ms Banks said.

Ms Banks said the council would speak to clubs based at the reserve to discuss whether more signs were needed.