Man fined while caring for dying wife slams Geelong council for no ‘human decency’
A grieving Mount Duneed widower battling a wrongful hospital parking fine was dealt a cruel blow when council's rejection arrived alongside a collection notice for his late wife's ashes.
A Geelong man who copped a $102 parking fine while caring for his dying wife in the emergency ward has called for “human decency” from the council, after his appeal was rejected the same day he collected his wife’s ashes.
Robert Aubrey was forced to rush his late wife Marie, who suffered from pulmonary arterial hypertension, to Geelong Hospital earlier this year so medical staff could urgently drain six litres of fluid from her stomach.
Despite thinking his wife was going to pass away at any moment, Mr Aubrey made sure to return to his car on Swanston St to renew his parking ticket.
“We paid for parking on the far side of the hospital and after that ran out I went back to put more money in, but there was already a parking fine on the windscreen,” he said.
“It was issued when I still had another 20 minutes left on the ticket.”
The 60-year-old contested the fine in the weeks that followed amid the heartbreaking loss of his wife, thinking the City of Greater Geelong would be empathetic of his circumstance.
“I explained it was an emergency, I still had 20 minutes left on my parking ticket and it was an extreme situation anyway,” Mr Aubrey said.
“I received a letter in return asking for a statutory declaration and for a Justice of the Peace to sign off that they were true copies of the parking fine and the receipt for the parking.”
Mr Aubrey says he complied with the council’s demands and expected radio silence, until he checked his mailbox a few weeks later.
“I assumed that was the end of it, so imagine my surprise when I received two letters, one to inform me my wife’s ashes could now be picked up and the other was the council telling me my appeal had failed and I still had to pay the fine,” he said.
“I just assumed they would say, ‘oh, it’s pretty rough his wife has died’, he wanted to be there for her and he actually paid for the parking.
“I assumed that there might be some human decency in the Geelong council but I was wrong.”
The Mount Duneed resident ended up paying the fine to defuse the situation in the wake of his wife’s death, but said he “couldn’t fathom” why he was penalised despite paying for parking.
A Geelong council spokesperson disputed the length of time left on the ticket, saying officers issued an infringement to Mr Aubrey after his vehicle was parked in a two-hour zone for a total of two hours and 49 minutes without moving.
“We understand there are instances when returning to move a car is not possible, the statutory appeal process is there to support motorists in these circumstances, and we consider every appeal carefully and on merit,” the spokesperson said.
“So far, we have not received a statutory declaration despite giving Mr Aubrey over a month to supply this, which is why we had to deny the appeal.”
It comes just weeks after Ocean Grove mum Aimee Davies called on the council to “fix” parking around the hospital, after she was fined while waiting for her daughter to go into surgery.
Mr Aubrey echoed Ms Davies’ sentiment, stating there needed to be more parking options available and flexibility during emergency situations.
“When there’s an emergency, you’re going to be stuck there for hours,” he said.
“The last time I was there with my wife and she passed away, I was there for about 23 hours.
“Luckily my son came and took the car home so I didn’t have to worry, but I wouldn’t have had an option otherwise.”
Mr Aubrey added he could understand how people could forget to pay in a high-stress situation.
“The emergency hospital is where bad things happen and people may forget to put money into the parking meter,” he said.
“I didn’t because I had visited the hospital so many times these last two years, but it’s not like people are parking in front of the library or the shops all day, it’s usually an emergency.”
Originally published as Man fined while caring for dying wife slams Geelong council for no ‘human decency’
