Ricky Nixon fires up over court ruling

Former agent to the stars Ricky Nixon has hit out at the “bloody pathetic” court system after being ordered to pay a series of fines.

Ricky Nixon was ordered to pay $331 in fines and $300 in costs.

Ricky Nixon’s bid to fight a slew of parking fines has backfired, with the controversial footy figure now on the hook for double the original cost.

The 58-year-old planned to dispute three parking tickets, worth $331, he copped over six weeks for parking too long and at a no stopping sign in Port Melbourne in December and January.

But the former player manager, known as ‘Chicken’, didn’t get his day in court because he never turned up to his virtual hearing in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

Judicial Registrar Alison Paton dealt with the matter in his absence, ordering Nixon pay the original $331 in fines, and slapping him with an extra $300 in costs.

Nixon had planned to dispute his three parking tickets. Picture Norm Oorloff

Nixon later told the Herald Sun he had no idea the case went ahead without him, and that he’d planned to plead not guilty.

He said he had a “legitimate” reason for his no-show.

“Their system was down yesterday,” he said, stating he twice called the court on Thursday and was told the system wasn’t working.

“You can’t find someone guilty if your system is down for 24 hours.”

He vowed to “ring them now and absolutely give it to them” and said “good luck getting it” – referring to the $631 in fines and costs.

“They should invest the $600 into their bloody pathetic systems,” Nixon said.

It’s the second time in just three months that Nixon has faced court over parking fines around Port Melbourne, where he lives.

He escaped four tickets in June, telling the court he believed his “ambulance” was exempt as a health operator doing an essential service during the pandemic.

Nixon said he’d been handing out free face masks to vulnerable and homeless people in January, February and June 2020 through his “Vital Health Checks” business when he was stung with the tickets.

Despite the City of Port Phillip saying it had no such exemption program, the fines were waived and the matter dismissed because of “exemption confusion”.