Sally Capp’s rental limo no longer allowed to illegally park outside Town Hall

Council bosses have taken action to stop Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp’s rental limo being allowed to illegally park outside Town Hall.

The hire limo used by Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp is no longer being allowed to illegally park outside Town Hall.

Bosses at Melbourne City Council have acted to stop Lord Mayor Sally Capp’s rental limousine from illegally parking on the footpath outside Town Hall.

The regular practice of a hire car pulling up on the Swanston St pavement for the mayoral pick-up was exposed by the Herald Sun.

Parking of cars on the footpath is not allowed in the city but council officers seemed to make an exception for Cr Capp’s ride.

The practice prompted a complaint to IBAC, the state’s corruption watchdog, in January with the report claiming that the parking rort ignored the road rules and that council was granting commercial favours to car hire companies.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp with a limo on the footpath outside Melbourne Town Hall on Swanston St.

No action or decision has yet been taken by IBAC.

The submission of the complaint came after the Herald Sun revealed that the private-hire limousine used by Cr Capp parked on the footpath, and was seen across the pavement, limiting pedestrian access.

But it’s now believed that all hire cars attending Town Hall for council business have been asked to enter the car park rather than waiting on Swanston St or on the car park driveway.

The move followed ratepayer concern about council privilege because regular motorists parking there would face a fine of $576 or could even have their vehicle towed away.

When Cr Capp was elected in 2018, she sold the mayoral limousine and promised to walk, cycle or take public transport whenever possible.

But her use of rental limousines increased in 2022 and 2023, piling up more than $30,000 in chauffeur-driven limousine trips in one year.

Cr Capp even took a ratepayer-funded ride in a luxury BMW to this year’s AFL Grand Final to watch her beloved Collingwood, and also was driven to the Melbourne Cup at Flemington.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws showed that last March Cr Capp took a total of 53 limousine trips, costing the public purse more than $5000.