Yarra council apologises after issuing parking fine by mistake

A Melbourne council has apologised after incorrectly sending a parking fine to a resident who never received the ticket on his windscreen.

A Melbourne council has apologised for incorrectly sending a parking fine to a resident who never received a ticket on his car windscreen.

CCTV captured the moment the parking officer placed a fine on the front of a Yarra man’s car, removing it seconds later when they realised the fine should not have been issued.

An administrative error by Yarra City Council, however, meant he still received a notice in the mail for the fine – issued at 7.37pm on a date in November – despite never having seen the original $109 ticket. The reminder came with an inflated charge.

Yarra City Council has apologised after a parking fine was issued by mistake. Picture: Supplied

Parking signs in the area indicate a two-hour parking zone from 7am until 7pm. All other times on the right-hand side of the sign is a permit zone.

While the man paid the fine, he scoured through CCTV footage to uncover what happened to the physical ticket – only to find it had been removed by the parking inspector.

Yarra Council said the inspector issued the fine by mistake, but it was not removed from the system in an “administrative error”. There is no suggestion the officer acted improperly.

Yarra Council said the inspector issued the fine by mistake, but it was not removed from the system in an “administrative error”. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Christian Gilles

“A council parking officer issued the infringement in error and upon realising that, removed it from the windscreen, noting the infringement needed to be voided in our computer system,” a council spokesperson told 9 News in a statement.

“Unfortunately, there was an administrative error and the fine was not withdrawn from the system.

“Council is in the process of contacting the individual, and will reimburse the fine immediately as well as apologise for the inconvenience caused.”