Finding a spot to park a car in Erskineville can be a headache at the best of times, but for resident Damian Seagar – who owns three cars – it can be a nightmare.
Seagar has a carport on his property, where he parks one of his cars, but the other two are usually parked on the street near his home.
After living in the suburb for eight years, Seagar said he thought he knew the ins and outs of the parking rules for local streets pretty well.
But that all changed in December, when – out of the blue – he got a parking ticket in the mail from Service NSW.
The $362 fine was for “parking within 10 metres of an intersection with no traffic lights” and carried a penalty of two licence demerit points.
Seagar said the fine took him by surprise, as he and other residents regularly parked in the spot and there were no signs to suggest it was a ‘no parking’ zone.
“This seemed ludicrously over the top for a quiet area; I would never park intentionally illegally if it was signposted that way,” he said.
“$362 plus the two demerit points – it’s brutal. I think it’s totally unfair.”
While “no parking” signs were displayed near quite a few street corners in Erskineville, others were not, he said.
“It’s really unclear, and it’s mixed messaging to have some corners with signs and some without, because that implies that the corner without the sign is fine.”
When Seagar tried to dispute the fine, he was told: “We acknowledge your claim that this has been a legitimate parking space for years, however we are unable to cancel the fine”.
Seagar said he vaguely recalled the road rule from the time he had taken his driving test, but the restriction did not make sense in the inner city, where buildings standing near to the curb obstructed the view of traffic more than parked cars.
“It’s a blanket rule that shouldn’t apply to tight one-way streets,” he said.
Seagal said he was gearing up to dispute the fine in court when, last week, he got more bad news in the mail.
A second fine arrived for the same violation. This time, the fine was for one of his other cars, which had been parked in almost the same spot as his first car, but on the other side of the road.
To make matters more confusing, Seagal said the second car had not been moved for nearly five months.
“The two cars were within 6 or 7 metres of each other. The warden would have seen it parked in that spot when they ticketed me for the first one.
“It just shows even some wardens don’t know the rules properly themselves.”
The fines could end up costing him thousands, Seagal said, as having demerit points on his licence would add an extra $200 per car to the cost of his Green Slip insurance for the next three years.
Seagal said he still intended to fight the fines in court.
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