A furious Brimbank resident will go to court rather than pay a council parking fine she claims is “unfair”.
Marlene, who didn’t want her surname published, told Star Weekly she was “definitely not going to pay” the $148 parking fine she received when dropping her son off at secondary school in St Albans.
“I’m so upset,” Marlene said. “What a ridiculous amount for dropping off your child at school. I’d rather do community service, or lock me up.”
Marlene was fined for stopping in a no-standing zone. She said she had dropped her son off at the same spot for the past four years and had not noticed the sign.
“My son just jumps out and I literally just go,” she said, claiming the no-standing sign was not visible and was bent.
Brimbank’s director of city development, Stuart Menzies, said there were three no- standing signs in the area where the woman dropped off her son, on the opposite side of the road to the school.
There is no crossing on this street.
“The person had parked wrongly, on the opposite side of the road to the school,” Mr Menzies said. “Parking is available on the school side of the road and this is done so that children don’t need to cross the road. If the person had parked on the school side of the road, she would not have parked illegally.”
Marlene said it would be better for the council to invest in creating a proper drop-off zone rather than sending out parking officers.
“This is simply a money-grabbing exercise by the council. They are using fines as a form of legalised theft,” she said.
Mr Menzies said safety around schools was a priority for the council.
