Merri-bek City Council is set to refund millions of dollars worth of parking fines due to a 2013 administrative error which was recently identified by the organisation.
The Council has this week announced it will establish a Parking Fines Refund Scheme for motorists who received parking fines for 11 minor types of infringements from 1 July 2013 until 11 June 2025.
The error is believed to have affected more than 200,000 motorists, putting the available refund figure at more than $10 million.
“For 11 categories of parking infringement, the Road Safety Act 1986 allows for a discretionary range of penalties – ranging from 0.2 penalty units to 0.5 penalty units. Councils are legally able to charge up to 0.5 of a penalty unit for these 11 types of infringements, provided there is a Council resolution to do so. Otherwise, those parking infringement categories default to the value of 0.2 penalty units,” the Council said in a statement explaining the discrepancy.
“Merri-bek Council has been charging 0.5 penalty units for those 11 categories of parking infringement, as many councils do. Unfortunately, it has recently been discovered that there appears to be no current formal resolution in place setting this value. There has not been a relevant resolution in place since the 2012/13 financial year. This was due to administrative error in 2013, which has not been identified until recently.”
It said parking infringements have been issued validly since July 2013, “to those who have broken the road rules”.
“The amount charged for those infringements was allowed for by the Road Safety Act 1986. But the correct authorising resolution was not in place to charge the higher amount for the 11 types of infringements.”
The most common type of infringement affected is for overstaying a parking time limit. Many other types of parking infringement are unaffected and were charged the correct amount, including for parking in a clearway, in a loading zone, and in a no stopping zone, the Council said.
The refund scheme is due to go live in early July. Affected motorists for the date range 1 July 2013 – 11 June 2025 will be able to apply for a refund for the overcharged amount of their parking fine amount.
The overcharged amount ranges from $45-$59 depending on the year of issue.
