Melbourne parking fines

[Snowman]

So here's the thing - I was about 20ft away from my car at the arrivals area of Melbourne airport for, I'd guess, less than 20 seconds. When I looked round, there was a parking guy beside my car who took great pleasure in telling me I would receive a $110 fine through the post for leaving a vehicle unattended and pulled out his clipboard.

Has anyone had any experience of this in Melbourne? What's the chances of receiving a fine through the post - and what if I don't pay it?

Thoughts appreciated!

 

[UP4014]

If you can get the CCTV footage you could challenge it.

 

[enigma01au]

You should cop the fine! The parking officer shouldn't be enjoying the act, but you still are liable for the fine. Imagine if there were 10 people with parked cars, who all are "just 20 feet" from the vehicles....the parking officer would be remise in his duties...the law is there to keep us all safe in these troubled times....Just my opinion....

 

[markis10]

Chances are your fine is legal and enforceable if you have broken the alleged law, and could be pursued by either party through the court system I imagine, the collection of the fines is actually done by the Federal Department of Transport, and until May last year you would have probably had an invalid fine as most airport officers were not authorised to issue such fines, this oversight was amened by the Government at that time:

Federal Government makes retrospective authorisation for thousands of illegal parking tickets at Australian airports | thetelegraph.com.au

 

[medhead]

You need to find the definition of unattended. I imagine it is a predefined distance. If 20feet (6m?) is within that and the fine clearly says unattended vehicle then I think you could challenge it. Unfortunately, I think that us a big IF, as I recall signs at another airport saying something like 2m.

the other thing is you have to challenge the fine. Do not just ignore it. That would involve writing back and stating the reasons that the vehicle wasn't unattended.

 

[harvyk]

You could challenge the fact that the car was not unattended as you went up to the parking officer prior to him writing a ticket... If the car truly was unattended it would have been a major coincidence that you happened to turn up at the exact same time the officer was writing the ticket.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

​l'd go for a challenge. Worst outcome, you pay the fine, best, you don't.