Council’s theatre of the absurd
AMONG the many memorable characters in classic hidden camera show Trigger Happy TV was the overzealous traffic warden.
The character was seen infuriating motorists by walking up to them at traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and threatening to fine them for “parking” in no-stopping zones.
Recent stories in the Bulletin would suggest the Gold Coast Council is approaching similar levels of absurdity.
The amount of people contacting this newspaper with tales of parking fines issued for the pettiest of reasons has been truly extraordinary.
The impetus for the angst appears to be the introduction by council of special Park Safe vehicles this year.
You may have seen them cruising the streets. They carry council branding on their side, and a roof box similar to the kind people use when going camping. Inside the roof box are cameras used to spot parking offences.
In theory, this is a great idea. Being a parking inspector has in the past not only been a thankless task, but at times a dangerous one. Having inspectors on the street physically issuing tickets left them open to abuse and attack, and unfortunately such disgraceful episodes have all too often occurred.
Any system that allows inspectors to carry out their business without being put in harm’s way is a welcome one.
However, the evidence is mounting daily that council has got carried away with their new toy.
Nobody can object to fines being issued to people, who take the proverbial, parking in ways that block roads or pathways, or abandoning cars all day in spaces needed so customers can reach businesses.
And it’s true to say that if the council did not actively enforce parking rules, there is a cohort that would actively flout them.
But too many recent fines seem to have been the product of gotcha moments, catching out ordinary people on technicalities when no real harm is being done.
Are the people angle parking at Helensvale Farmers Market doing anyone any harm by their behaviour? Of course not. But that didn’t stop 17 of them receiving $172 fines.
Were the people parking on the nature strip in front of Worongary’s Pioneer Downs Park causing any trouble?
If anything, doing so was arguably far safer than parking up on the narrow road. But the law says no parking on nature strips, so they too got hit.
In these cases and others, the council has found itself busily solving problems that did not exist.
But it is most definitely now a problem for the people who have copped fines, especially in light of the cost-of-living crisis affecting so many in suburban areas.
There is the letter of the law and the spirit of it. Council’s behaviour lately suggests they are firmly wedded to the former.
When police set up speed traps, they at least make the effort to target areas where serious incidents have occurred. Council, however, finds itself targeting areas where there have been no issues and no complaints.
In his 2012 election campaign, Mayor Tom Tate promised a commonsense approach to parking.
“Council shouldn’t be there to punish people, they should encourage them to buy locally,” he said in February that year. We appear to have strayed very far indeed from that eminently sensible principle.
Now that he’s back from his own travels, maybe Mr Tate could consider the frustration of those who find themselves stung by surprise fines after travelling around the suburbs of our city.
A review into how the parking department is operating would seem warranted.
Because quite frankly, much of what has been going on in the past few months is thoroughly absurd.