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Motorists’ suspicions about parking guards have been virtually confirmed following the leak of secret internal documents.
Sydney City Council documents obtained by Seven news have revealed that Inspectors are expected to be “highly productive” and issue fines for a “variety of violations.”
Some of the 143 offenses for which fines can be issued include stopping near a letterbox on a nature strip, parking a ute with its tray flat on the pavement, while a bad parking in your own driveway could cost you $283.
The council has denied that the targets are considered “quotas” but admitted that they are “targets” that are updated with monthly productivity reports.
It has been revealed that Sydney City Council has set ‘targets’ for its park rangers by imposing parking fines that reflect how ‘highly productive’ they are (pictured)
No other NSW council came close to exceeding the parking fine amount issued by the City of Sydney in 2022-23.
The council won a whopping $33 million of the $222 million in parking fines levied statewide.
Other councils that imposed parking fines were Parramatta ($13.3 million) and Liverpool ($3.5 million).
Kate Meller, a Sydney woman, claimed she was fined $644 while parking in a disabled parking space outside a hospital to help a friend who was in labour.
“His water broke, he said: ‘The hospital will take me in now, as soon as you get here I’ll leave,'” she told Seven News.
Despite appealing the fine on compassionate grounds, she was not granted any leniency and was forced to pay the fine.
NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury called on councils to be more transparent in how fines are imposed.
“What you don’t want is for the public to feel like they’re changing from being parking officers to becoming vendors and looking for ways to fine people,” he said.
The many parking violations that can result in a fine include stopping next to a fire hydrant, while a bad parking in someone’s parking lot will cost a driver $283.
The City of Sydney is one of 36 councils in New South Wales that have adopted a fine-free system of distributing fines and instead sending them by email.
The system has been criticized for leaving drivers defrauded as they cannot obtain evidence that they have not committed an offense if they are informed of it a week later.
Sydney City Council stated that its The system offers “more information about your fine and will allow you to make informed decisions.”
“It also improves the safety of our rangers, who often face abuse and assault from the public while carrying out their work,” the statement added.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Sydney City Council for comment.
The New South Wales government is investigating how fines are reviewed.