Council backflips on parking fine for doctor on COVID frontline
A Melbourne doctor was slapped with a $99 parking ticket while working “56 hours over four days” at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. It took a public backlash for the City of Melbourne to rethink the fine and cancel the ticket.
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A stranger has paid a parking fine for a doctor working on Victoria’s COVID-19 frontline, forcing the council to backflip on the infringement.
It comes as the City of Melbourne and Transurban promised more relief for travelling frontline staff.
Hawthorn East man Brent Hodgson said he just wanted to “do something little to help” when he paid a parking ticket for ICU doctor Katarina Arandjelovic on Tuesday.
The random act of kindness came about after Dr Arandjelovic, who is understood to work as an anaesthetics registrar at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, posted to Twitter about being slapped with the fine after finishing her shift.
Dear @cityofmelbourne @SallyCapp_
— Katarina Arandjelovic (@KArandjelovic) August 10, 2020
I am a doctor at the Royal #Melbourne ICU.
I worked 56 hours over four days in helping look after some of our state’s sickest patients.
At 10pm last night, I left work to find a fine on my car dashboard. pic.twitter.com/sA1oKE21lB
“I worked 56 hours over four days in helping look after some of our state’s sickest patients,” the tweet read.
“We cannot work from home … we do not see our families for weeks. So I guess … slapping fines on our cars is one hell of a thank you.”
The post sparked outrage online, and inspired Mr Hodgson to pay the $99 ticket.
“I just felt like it was a simple thing I could do to help someone at the frontline,” he said.
“I feel like there’s a lot of people slipping through the cracks at the moment.”
Mr Hodgson, whose partner works for the Royal Flying Doctors, said he knew “just how difficult” working in the medical field could be.
He said in paying the fine, he was ensuring Dr Arandjelovic could get back to helping those who needed it most.
The attention forced the City of Melbourne to review and waive the fine, admitting it had “missed the mark”.
Sorry we missed the mark on this tweet to @KArandjelovic. Given your critical role, we have withdrawn the fine. Royal Melbourne Hospital is being provided with additional frontline worker permits. Please grab one! We have given out 8000 so far to nurses and doctors. 1/2 https://t.co/QpbwS0i2KI
— City of Melbourne (@cityofmelbourne) August 11, 2020
It is understood the fine was issued in a red no-parking zone, but Deputy Mayor Arron Wood said the city was always happy to support frontline staff where possible.
“Anything we can do to support our frontline workers is really important,” he said.
He said this included issuing more permits if and when needed. “The frontline permits support all the people who are sacrificing so much for us right now,” he said.
During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, NewsCorp campaigned for free parking for frontline workers.
On Tuesday afternoon, a further 5000 temporary parking permits for frontline workers were promised by the City of Melbourne, taking the number of permits issued to 15,000.
The permits will be issued to staff at hospitals within the council area, Victoria Police and other medical staff working in other COVID-19 areas.
Transurban will on Wednesday announce toll-free travel on CityLink for healthcare workers and other frontline staff.
The toll credits will be available for the duration of stage four restrictions and will apply for travel already taken from August 2.
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