News / Council
Council faces multi-million dollar pay out after parking fines blunder
Motorists will be able to apply for a refund from early-July
Mark Phillips
THOUSANDS of Merri-bek residents and visitors may be due a refund after the discovery of an administrative error that meant they were issued with an incorrect financial penalty for parking infringements.
Up to 250,000 fines have been impacted by the mistake over a 12-year period when the council was fining drivers twice it should have been for a range of minor parking offences in “green sign zones”.
The final bill for the council of providing the refunds could be anything between $10.7 million and $14.7 million.
Since 2013, the council has been charging motorists 0.5 penalty units for 11 different types of parking offences when it should only have been charging 0.2 penalty units. This translates to overcharging motorists by between $43 and $59 for each parking offence, depending on what year it was issued in.
Motorists were still being wrongly charged as recently as early last week.
The error was only detected recently and derives from the failure of the council to pass a resolution authorising motorists to be charged the higher 0.5 penalty units.
Council chief executive Cathy Henderson has apologised for the overcharging, which she said had been the result of a “a regrettable historical administrative error”.
“Now that we have found the mistake, we are fixing it,” she said.
The council is putting in place an online refund scheme that will be implemented from next month.
The most common infringement affected was overstaying a parking time limit.
Among the other 10 infringements that were overcharged were failing to pay for parking; ignoring a no parking sign or stopping in a bike or motor bike parking area; and not completely being within a parking bay.
But some other offences, including parking in a clearway, in a loading zone and in a no stopping zone have been correctly charged throughout.
The council will not be fully refunding parking fines, and it will not be waiving valid infringement notices.
Despite overcharging motorists by as much as $59, Merri-bek insists its parking fines are consistent with other inner Melbourne councils, some of which charge $99 for similar offences.
Henderson said parking restrictions and controls were necessary to manage traffic, parking and road safety.
She said all revenue raised from parking fines was used by the council to provide services, upgrade infrastructure and maintain council assets.
The council is confident that the refunds will have no significant budgetary implications or impact on its services.
People who believe they may have been overcharged for a parking infringement will be able to apply for a refund from next month.
In order to claim a refund, they will need to know and produce evidence of the infringement number, or alternatively provide evidence of owning or using that vehicle at the time they received the fine. Parking infringements will not be overturned.
Motorists can register on the council website now to be ready to apply for a refund.
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