VODKA CHASERS
Parking cops go after booze baron and lose
A VODKA entrepreneur who won a nine-month battle against council parking inspectors is urging Gold Coasters to fight unjust fines. Vodka Plus founder Dave Nelson took two tickets for $180 to the Queensland Ombudsman who forced the council “bullies” to back down.
AN entrepreneur is urging Gold Coasters to fight unjust parking tickets after winning a nine-month battle against the city council.
Vodka Plus founder Dave Nelson has beaten two tickets issued late last year for $180, staring down threats to increase them and suspend his licence.
The 29-year-old refused to pay the two tickets – issued on the same day in the same spot late last year – because he had council-issued “parking passes” displayed in his vehicle.
He was a volunteer speaker for a Southport Community Centre event and was given the passes for Woodroffe
Park but said when he challenged it council officials told him he hadn’t parked in the right place.
“They said ‘bad luck, (the pass) was meant to be for parking on the other side of the venue’,” he said, but explained that was not specified on the pass.
Late penalties sent the bill soaring to $296.
He went to the Queensland Ombudsman who initially said there was little the office could do.
“I sent the Ombudsman a pretty aggressive email, saying what’s your purpose if you are not going to protect the little guy?
“I got a call from the Ombudsman saying we read your email, we agree, we’re going to reopen your case.”
In a letter to the Ombudsman, he said he could understand the fines if his parking pass specified a street to use.
But it didn’t and he parked “directly outside” where the pass indicated: “The pass was on my dashboard and the inspector placed the two tickets on top so they would not have missed it”.
In a follow-up July 8 rant to the State Penalties Enforcement Registry (SPER) and council, he pointed out the Ombudsman was reopening the case and called for “commonsense”.
“When a man gets a parking pass, parks in the park listed, gets fined twice, has his removal of fine refused and gets threatened with losing his licence, something is drastically wrong,” he wrote.
“If I lose my licence and have any losses of income, someone will be paying damages. I’m not sure how the people at Gold Coast City Council can sleep at night.”
Two weeks later, SPER advised council had “recalled” his infringements and he had “no further obligations”.
Asked why it cancelled Mr Nelson’s tickets, council failed to clarify the reason: “The two infringements were reviewed as requested. On the basis of the review, the infringements were recalled.
“Council encourages members of the public to challenge infringements if and when they feel they have been unjustly issued.”
Mr Nelson celebrated on Facebook: “Did I waste probably thousands of dollars in my time and energy over the year all to save a measly $300? Yep. Was it worth it sticking it to these low breads who continue to abuse their power and bully people? Absof..kinglutely!!!”