Ex-parking inspector slams ‘dirty tactics’ used to sting motorists

A former Hobart parking inspector says increased parking fees imposed by council and the swift issuing of tickets to offending motorists had driven people away from the CBD. LIFE ON THE PARKING BEAT >>

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A RETIRED Hobart council parking inspector has come out swinging against his former employer, saying workers were told to employ “dirty” tactics and were measured against strict targets to ensure they were bringing in enough revenue from stinging motorists.

John Hindley, who worked in several council-owned car parks and patrolled city streets to issue fines to those who overstayed, was a council parking inspector between 1992 and 2012.

Mr Hindley suggested increased parking fees imposed by council and the swift issuing of tickets to offending motorists, even if they were only a few minutes late, had driven people away from the CBD.

“They’ve murdered it. They’ve killed the city of Hobart,’’ he told the Mercury.

“Shops have closed because of the parking. These new meters, nobody can understand how to work them anyway.”

Former Hobart City Council parking information officer John Hindley in relation to policies and practices of Hobart City Council. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

His comments come after motorists experienced a price hike for parking in the past week with a new schedule of fees adopted for the 2021-22 financial year.

Mr Hindley said when he was employed by council, inspectors were benchmarked against targets in terms of the amount of tickets they were expected to have issued.

“They had benchmarking and they would pull you in and say ‘why haven’t you got enough tickets’ and ‘we need to know why’,’’ he said.

“A lot of the time, the parking meters didn’t work and the time on the machine might have been, say, three minutes faster than what your watch might have said.

“So let’s say you think you’ve got to be back by 11am, and it’s actually 5 past 11 (on the machine), then you’ll get a ticket.”

While Mr Hindley has not worked at the council for almost a decade, Australian Workers Union assistant branch secretary Robert Flanagan said similar practices still existed.

Mr Flanagan said while there was no formal benchmarking targets for inspectors in writing, he said there was a culture where inspectors were expected to bring in a certain amount of fines.

“If they don’t, they are subjected to a ‘chat’ from management,’’ he said.

“They feel intimidated by that.”

Former Hobart City Council parking information officer John Hindley. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

But Hobart City Council chief executive Kelly Grigsby said the jobs of parking inspectors were not about how much money they brought in.

“Their role is not driven by revenue or any other targets, other than working to achieve a high level of service to the community through improved compliance with parking regulations, and to meet the expectations of residents who are impacted by illegal or unsafe parking,’’ she said.

Council employs 21 full-time and 15 part-time parking and information officers who patrol parking areas across the Hobart CBD, North Hobart, South Hobart, West Hobart, Salamanca, Glebe and Battery Point, while also managing the city's off-street carparks.

Mr Hindley said during his time, parking inspectors were told to loiter near a soon-to-expire carparking space and wait for two minutes to pass since the motorist’s time had elapsed before issuing a fine.

“They got me for not doing it. Two minutes was not fair,’’ he said.

Mr Hindley believed motorists on a meter should be given a grace period of 10 minutes after the expiration of their parking, before they were fined.

Former Hobart City Council parking information officer John Hindley. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Ms Grigsby said overall parking compliance had improved in the past 12 months, attributed partly to the EasyPark app which made it easier for people to keep track of their parking time.

“But we do appreciate that hold-ups happen and our officers do generally allow a short grace period for drivers to return to their cars when their parking expires,’’ she said.

During his 20-year tenure with the council, Mr Hindley regularly copped abuse both verbal and physical from motorists.

“I woke up with black eyes, and ended up in hospital, just for doing your job,’’ he said.

“It’s not a nice job. It’s a well-paid job, but the revenue that’s coming in, you would not believe the revenue that comes into the council.”

Mr Hindley said council was taking $4000 a day in its multistorey Argyle St car park when he last worked there, and that was almost 10 years ago.

“That’s a lot of money,’’ he said.

When he worked with council, there were 40 people in the team — with two deployed in each of the council’s multistorey car parks with the remainder patrolling city streets.

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