Paired-up parking inspector costing City of Melbourne millions

The jury is out on whether a plan to protect vulnerable parking inspectors from insulting or abusive drivers is working, but while it’s being assessed one Melbourne council is losing millions from its coffers.

A parking inspector writes up a ticket for a car illegally parked on the nature strip.

Grey ghosts’ recent routine of pairing up, so they are less vulnerable to insults and even assaults from tardy drivers angry at being caught out, is costing the City of Melbourne.

Fewer tickets are being ­issued and revenue from parking fines has dipped by 8 per cent in just three months, short-changing Town Hall coffers by $2.5 million.

In the previous three months, fines revenue was also down by $1.8 million, indicating a persisting problem.

A parking inspector issues an parking ticket in Melbourne's CBD. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Earlier this year, the council indicated it was looking at a plan for officers to wear body cameras similar to those worn by police. Use of the technology in other council areas has reduced levels of abuse.

Hot weather also slowed revenue collection earlier this year as fewer parking officers were patrolling streets in the city centre.

Last year, council parking inspectors reported about 50 cases of abuse, mainly verbal.

Money from parking fines is a major source of income for the council, yielding more than $44 million last year.

But for the first nine months of this financial year, parking fines revenue amounted to just $28.6 million, down from the $31.1 million that had been forecast in the city’s budget.

Parking inspectors have been working in pairs so they are less vulnerable to abuse.

A City of Melbourne spokeswoman said the decline in parking infringement revenue was also due to greater compliance from drivers and the introduction of pay-by-phone parking apps.

There had also been staff departures. Vacancies had since been advertised, the spokeswoman said.

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“There was no specific incident that led to a relatively small number of officers asking to be paired up. It is not yet clear whether pairing up officers has had any impact on reports of assault,” she said.

“The majority of assaults on our officers are verbal assaults. The streets are our officers’ workplace and we do not tolerate any form of abuse encountered by our officers in the course of their work.

“We work closely with ­Victoria Police to ensure the reported assaults are ­investigated.’’

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@IanRoyall