Inspectors issuing 500 more fines a week than a year ago

PARKING inspectors are handing out 500 more tickets a week on average than a year ago, new data reveals.

City leaders have denied its staff have been given orders to crack down on errant motorists to raise revenue after two years of few tickets being handed out

With three months still to run in the business calendar, 107,571 motorists have been slugged. For all of 2020-21, inspectors wrote 117,916 infringements. At this rate, council will average about 25,000 more fines. Pre-Covid, in 2018-19, it was 172,000.

City transport committee head Councillor Pauline Young did not return the Bulletin’s calls on Wednesday but has previously blamed the pandemic and closed borders for the decline and denied the council was engaging in revenue raising.

Parking fines and fees brought in $17.4m in 2014-15 and $22.9m in 2015-16. However, revenue had already declined before the pandemic, having fallen to $10.6m in 2018-19. It fell to $9.8m in 2019-20, during the early stages of Covid-19.

In early 2021, a confidential budget report given to councillors showed the city’s parking revenue was down by more than $2.6m and had consistently been between 50 per cent to 75 per cent less than what it should have been.

A council spokeswoman said at the time the reduction in parking infringements was “attributed to a combination of factors, including Covid-19 and delays to our planned rollout of new parking sensor technology.”

Council data obtained by the Bulletin this year showed that of the 117,916 fines issued, nearly 40,000 were in Surfers Paradise. Burleigh Heads (23,542) and Southport (23,442) were next.

Of the 117,916 fines issued in the 2020/21 financial year, 13,675 were appealed. Those appeals were successful in 8541 cases – or 62 per cent of cases.

The council says car ownership is expected to increase by 32 per cent or 198,000 vehicles within a decade.

It comes just months after council revealed it was considering shrinking carparks to create more spaces around popular business hubs.

Line markings with council-run carparks are being reviewed as part of the city’s 10year parking strategy in a bid to “maximise” bays.

Burleigh Heads, Varsity Lakes, Surfers Paradise, Nerang, Broadbeach and Southport are being investigated.