South Australian woman spends $53k fighting $104 parking fine in 4-year battle with council
A parking fine that should have cost $104 spiralled into a years-long legal nightmare that left one South Australian woman tens of thousands out of pocket.
A South Australian woman has won a four-year legal battle against her local council over a $104 parking fine.
The woman, named as Ms Mathie in court documents, was fined after the council claim she “double parked” her silver Hyundai sedan across from a private school in Adelaide’s north in 2021.
Ms Mathie argued she was not parked but stuck in a stationary line of traffic on Boucaut Ave in Blakeview.
Taking the matter to Elizabeth Magistrates Court originally, the magistrate rejected her excuse and said that photos of her car we taken two minutes apart in the same spot.
The magistrate described it as an “exceedingly long time for a car to be stuck in traffic” at the trial in 2023.
Ms Mathie then appealed the matter to the Supreme Court, which was successful. The matter was put back to the Magistrates’ Court for retrial; however, the council decided to withdraw the charges.
Last month, the Court of Appeal ordered Playford Council to pay 20 per cent of Ms Mathie’s $52,896 legal bill, amounting to $10,580..
Speaking to ABC Radio Adelaide on Thursday, Ms Mathie’s lawyer, Karen Stanley, said the Supreme Court allowed the appeal based on the fact her client had a “really good” original defence.
“I ran that argument that she had a defence and another very, very technical argument, and the Supreme Court said that we were successful on the technical argument,” Ms Stanley said.
“Now, ultimately, the Court of Appeal overturned the technical issue, but really importantly, the Court of Appeals said: ‘Well, actually, Ms Mathie had a really good defence.
“She said ‘I would have been breaking other road rules by driving onto the wrong side of the road if I was to try and get out of that line of traffic’ and the Court of Appeals said ‘’Yeah, you’re right’.”
In a statement to the media, Playford Council said they wanted to “preserve the integrity of the expiation process” which was “an essential regulatory function relied on by councils as well as the South Australia Police”.
“This case was not about a single expiation, but a fundamental point of law with far-reaching implications for South Australia’s entire expiation system,” the spokesman said.
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Originally published as South Australian woman spends $53k fighting $104 parking fine in 4-year battle with council
