Ban on ticketless parking fines takes effect in July, months after NSW law passed

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A Sydney man who unknowingly received seven parking fines has hit out at how long it's taking for a ban on ticketless infringements to begin. More than six months after the Minns government claimed to be ending the practice, rangers are still issuing fines without attaching notices to vehicles.

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00:00In the inner Sydney suburb of Surrey Hills, parking is at a premium.

00:07It's total cat and mouse with all the revenue ranges. We just wait for our tyres to be marked,

00:12then we do a bit of car Tetris with the other people who work in the local area.

00:16It's a game Jai Smith lost repeatedly and unknowingly until one day his registration was cancelled.

00:22It seems I'd acquired seven parking fines having no idea, parking around the corner from work.

00:28He says the penalty notices never arrived in the mail, even though he'd updated his address.

00:34We had no idea that we'd been ticketed because there were no tickets left on the window.

00:38In November, the state government passed legislation banning the practice,

00:42but it is yet to take force as Mr Smith learnt when he received yet another fine after the reforms.

00:49And so I contested one of my fines early this year and was told that even though it was in the media

00:54that none of the laws had actually come into effect yet.

00:57The ABC can reveal ticketless infringements will finally be outlawed on July the 1st.

01:02But that's still a long time between a law being passed and anything affecting just the normal person.

01:07Asked why the government is taking so long to enliven the ban,

01:11the minister says it had given councils a reasonable period to make the necessary changes.

01:16There's nothing stopping councils introducing those notifications immediately today.

01:22Of all the councils in New South Wales, the City of Sydney rakes in the most from ticketless fines,

01:27collecting more than $40 million in a single year.

01:30The council told the ABC it won't revert to traditional tickets until it's legally obliged to next month.

01:36I'm sure they're going to lose a huge source of revenue as this comes in because it will be a deterrent

01:40and I think that's why they're avoiding it.

01:42With the revival of physical fines, Mr Smith hopes he'll become a smaller source of council funds.

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