Twist after tradie fined $12k for filling hole

There’s been a shock development in the case of a tradie who was fined almost $12,000 by his council for filling in a dangerous hole near his home.

A Melbourne landscaper who was fined $11,500 for filling in a dangerous hole near his home has had the infringement scrapped after widespread backlash.

Adam Marsal, 40, said he was only trying to do the right thing when he filled in a large hole that had been left by a fallen tree in the nature strip near his Cranbourne Road home in Frankston late last year.

The roughly two-metre hole, just behind a bus stop, had been left untouched for close to six months and Mr Marsal had “seen people tumble off the side”.

But to his surprise, Mr Marsal was contacted by Frankston City Council officers earlier this year requesting he come to discuss the unauthorised works, after a tip-off by another local.

After an extraordinary police-style interrogation by a council worker he received two infringement notices in June.

One fine was to himself and another to his company for “depositing waste of more than 1000 litres” in violation of the Environment Protection Act 2017.

In a stunning backflip this week, the council withdrew the substantial $9,600 fine against Mr Marsal’s company after the tradie engaged lawyers.

The site where Adam Marsal filled in the hole. Picture: Supplied

“It’s cost me thousands of dollars just to even have the fine, that should not have been issued in the first place, withdrawn,” Mr Marsal told Nine’s A Current Affair.

He said the entire ordeal had left a bitter taste in his mouth, and revealed his plans to run in the upcoming local council elections after receiving “overwhelming” community support.

“I’d like to clean up Frankston a little bit more,” he said.

Launching his official campaign, Mr Marsal promised to tackle the “transparency of council governance and engagement with the community” if elected.

Adam Glezer from Consumer Champion, who represented Mr Marsal in his fight against the council, said he was glad the “ridiculous” fine had been torn up.

“It never should have been sent and it shouldn’t have taken a letter from a legal professional to have it overturned,” Glezer told A Current Affair.

“Way too many council members act as bullies and intimidate members of the public.

“What scares me is that a large percentage of the population who receive fines, don’t have the resources to engage lawyers.

“In those situations, councils get away with it.”

A council spokesperson told Nine they “withdrew the infringement against the company” after Mr Marsal paid the fine against him.

Mr Marsal was grilled for 20 minutes by council worker Bruce Gardiner. Picture: Supplied

Extraordinary 20-minute ‘interrogation’

Mr Marsal was subjected to a 20-minute grilling by Bruce Gardiner, the council’s prosecutions co-ordinator, earlier this year about his decision to fill the hole.

Mr Gardiner opened the on-camera interview by telling Mr Marsal he wanted to ask about “some allegations about the illegal deposit of litter on the side of the road”.

“I don’t know that it’s litter, but OK,” Mr Marsal said.

Mr Gardiner proceeded to read Mr Marsal his rights and requested he state his full name, sparking a hostile back-and-forth that set the tone for the remainder of the combative interview.

Mr Marsal said he spent thousands of dollars cleaning up the site. Picture: Supplied

Later in the interview Mr Gardiner produced a series of photos of the hole.

“Yeah I’ve cleaned up the site, it used to be a f**king derelict site, full of s**t,” Mr Marsal said angrily.

“Mind you, there was this big gum tree, it fell over and you left a hole in the ground two metres deep and about four metres wide, right here, for about six months, so I cleaned it up.”

“I didn’t leave a hole anywhere,” Mr Gardiner said.

“You’re the council!” Mr Marsal said.

“No I’m not,” Mr Gardiner said.

“You work for the council — the council left the hole in the ground,” Mr Marsal said.

“Adam, why did you put those items on the side of the road?” Mr Gardiner said.

“I’ve just been telling you,” Mr Marsal said. “Did you hear what I’ve been talking about. Does that answer your question?”

“No it doesn’t,” Mr Gardiner said. “Your suggestion is that you put those items there to beautify the area.”

He told Mr Marsal council had no record of him having reported the hole.

Mr Marsal insisted “I called you guys, I called VicRoads, I cleaned it up because no one was coming”.

“This is my home, I live across the road from this place,” he said. “I’ve spent thousands of dollars buying stuff for this.”

Mr Marsal is now running for local council. Picture: Facebook

Ominous letter after story made headlines

After his story was featured on A Current Affair in mid-July, Mr Marsal then received another letter from council requesting access to his property for a building inspection.

“Frankston City Council has received information that there is potentially unsafe or non-compliant building work at the abovementioned property that requires inspection,” the letter said.

news.com.au does not suggest that Mr Gardiner had any involvement in the issuing of the letter.

Mr Marsal said he had owned his two-bedroom freestanding unit for nearly 10 years.

“Years ago I did some renovations inside and landscaped it, put retaining walls up, fixed the veranda that was falling down and put in some stairs,” he said.

“That’s the extent of it. It’s been like that for years, and coincidentally after the other issue they sent [this letter]. It makes me feel intimidated and harassed. I’m pretty sure they can go to any house in Australia and pick someone up on anything.”

Mr Marsal said he did not intend to give consent to the search, meaning the council “have the option to go to a magistrate and get a search warrant”.

“I’m not a murderer, I’m not a drug dealer,” he said.

“I try to keep my head down in life, I don’t want these kinds of issues. You just don’t go and treat people like this.”

Paul Edbrooke, the Labor state MP for Frankston, said watching how Mr Marsal was treated in the video “was actually quite disturbing”.

“These kinds of issues can be treated in a much more pragmatic and productive manner,” he said. “In the last few months we’ve had quite a few complaints in regards to the way ratepayers are being treated by council over issues such as this one. Personally I have no idea why council would be this heavy-handed on someone that basically did their job for them.”

Mr Edbrooke said he had “no idea at all why you would treat anyone in your community like that”.

“The effect on Adam’s small business is just amazing and very, very disruptive,” he said.

The MP also said he found the timing of the letter “really suspicious”.

“A reasonable person could start thinking that this is targeting, intimidating and bullying someone,” he said.

“This council has been pulled up quite a few times for alleged bullying. I think there is some big cultural issue.”

Mr Edbrooke said “overall the message I’ve gotten” from constituents was the council was “out of touch, out of focus and they’ve got a culture problem”.

“People are just wondering, when the rates, roads and rubbish portion of their council rates, they don’t get those services, why council are focusing on these other pet projects they’ve got,” he said.

“Meanwhile a hole that had been there more than six months, two metres deep, a guy that has to take matters into his own hands is then charged $11,500.”

After further media coverage, Mr Marsal received an email informing him the inspection would not go ahead.