Parking fines a driving force in local government polls
COUNCIL elections next week are turning into a referendum on giving motorists a fair go, as new figures show councils blitzed their streets with a record 1,225,024 fines last year.
The record - equal to a fine every 27 seconds - comes as scores of candidates in the September 13 poll campaign on promises of more flexible parking policies.
Councils shrugged off growing public anger to write parking fines with a face value of $132,113,702 in the 2007-08 financial year, up $8 million on the same time last year.
Motorists have complained of heavyhanded parking enforcement in a number of council areas.
Wyong Council last year fined mum-to-be Fiona Smith for stopping in a no standing zone during a bout of morning sickness. The fine was later overturned