By Charlene Gatt
IT’S the New Year’s resolution every City of Maribyrnong resident should have in 2012: watch where you park.
Maribyrnong City Council sent out a deluge of parking fines in 2011, issuing 58,091 between 1 January and the end of November.
That equates to around 174 parking fines a day.
The fines saw the council reap $6.84 million over the 2010-11 financial year.
The numbers have dropped from the same time in 2010, when 68,183 fines were distributed at the height of the Footscray parking camera controversy – with 29,025 infringements detected by the cameras.
In 2008, 41,316 parking fines were issued over the same period.
Footscray Traders Association president Grant Miles said the council’s parking officers had been aggressively fining drivers since the Footscray parking cameras were switched off in March last year.
“When they turned the parking cameras off, what they started doing to pick up the revenue and numbers was drive around and (fine people),” Mr Miles said.
“On some occasions they don’t even get out of the car, they just take a photo of your number plate and send the fine in the mail.
“Apparently, it is legal – they don’t have to put a fine on your car – but morally, it stinks. The problem with it is if you get a fine in the mail two weeks later, it’s hard to dispute it, because who remembers where they parked two weeks ago?
“They’ve got teams of two people walking around, they’ve got bright yellow jackets on but you don’t know that they’re parking officers.”
In a statement from Maribyrnong City Council, Infrastructure and Engineering general manager Ian Butterworth would not reveal how many parking officers the council employs, saying only: “We have sufficient numbers of staff to enable a balanced patrol of the Maribyrnong council areas to ensure parking is monitored on a daily basis.”
Mr Butterworth said residents should read parking restriction signs carefully before parking their car to avoid getting a fine.
“Parking is provided to enable visitors and locals the opportunity to park as close to their destination as possible whilst giving them the opportunity to park long term or short term at various locations,” he said.
