Hobart City Council to find fix on illegal parking meter feeding as fees rise on spots

Hobart Council will investigate how to stop drivers illegally feeding city parking meters, as part of a suite of changes to fees.

Motorists in Salamanca coming to terms with the new parking meters being rolled out around Hobart. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

HOBART Council will investigate how to stop drivers illegally feeding city parking meters.

Council last night agreed to liaise with the service providers to try to find a technical solution to prevent machines accepting payment from those who overstay in parking spots.

It comes as the council also voted to abolish the controversial $3 minimum credit card fee, while fees for 1728 of 2088 parking spots were increased, with the changes to take effect from July 1.

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Alderman Simon Behrakis said the current parking meters and sensors weren’t programmed to “speak to each other”.

The technological gap has allowed meters to accept payment for a longer period than what was allowed, but in-ground sensors also alerted parking inspectors to overstaying motorists.

It has led to some shocked drivers being fined when they believed they had a valid ticket.

Mr, Ms Behrakis said there were ways to make the two systems communicate but he was not sure how much it would cost or how long it would take.

“These are important steps forward in addressing the many concerns the community has with our parking meters at the moment,” he said.

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“I am glad the council has sent a message that it is taking the issue seriously.”

He said council officers would engage the providers of the technology before reporting back to elected members.

Earlier this month HCC general manager Nick Heath said it has never been legal to overstay in parking spots by feeding the meter — and those who had been fined for doing so only had themselves to blame.

He said detection was previously difficult, but now that there were sensors the city was aware at all times how long a car had been parked.

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“The onus is now on everyone parking in the CBD to take responsibility for knowing the rules and reading the signs. Ignorance is no longer an excuse,” Mr Heath said.

The new parking meters have been heavily criticised by the public because they are slow, difficult to use, are hard to see in sunlight and require a $3 minimum charge when used with a credit card.

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