City of Sydney Council documents expose infuriating truth about parking inspectors

• Parking rangers given parking fine ‘goals’ 
• System urges them to be ‘highly productive’ 
• READ MORE: How to get out of a parking fine every time in Australia

Motorists’ sneaking suspicions about parking rangers have all but been confirmed after secret internal documents were leaked.

City of Sydney Council documents obtained by Seven News have revealed that inspectors are expected to be ‘highly productive’ and issue fines for a ‘variety of offences’.

Some of the 143 offences that fines can be issued for include stopping near a letter box on a nature strip, parking a ute with its flatbed tray over the sidewalk, while a poor park in your own driveway could set you back $283.

The council has denied the goals are considered ‘quotas’ but admitted they are ‘targets’ which are updated with monthly productivity reports.

The City of Sydney Council has been revealed to have given their parking rangers ‘goals’ for issuing parking fines that reflect how ‘highly productive’ they are (pictured)

READ MORE:  Driver fumes after being slapped with a massive fine for parking in a ‘legal’ spot

No other council in NSW came close to topping the parking fine amount issued  by City of Sydney in 2022-23.

The council made a whopping $33m of the $222m in parking fines issued statewide.

Other councils that churned out parking  fines included Parramatta (almost $13.3m) and Liverpool ($3.5m)

Sydney woman Kate Meller claimed that she was fined $644 while parking in a disabled parking space outside of a hospital to help a friend going through labour.

‘Her water has broken, she said ‘the hospital is taking me in now as soon as you get here I’m going,’ she told Seven News.

Despite appealing the fine on compassionate grounds, she wasn’t given any leniency and was forced to pay the fine.

NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury called for councils to be more transparent with how they issue fines.

‘What you don’t want is for the public to feel like they’re going away from being parking officers and becoming salespeople and looking for ways to fine people,’ he said.

Among the numerous parking offences that can lead to a fine include stopping next to a fire hydrant while a poor park in someone’s own carpark will set a driver back $283

The City of Sydney is one of 36 councils across NSW that have adopted a ticketless system of distributing fines and instead sending the fines through email.

The system has been criticised for leaving drivers shortchanged as they can’t gain evidence of them not causing an offence if they’re made aware of it a week later.

City of Sydney Council claimed that its system offered ‘more information about your fine and allow you to make informed decisions’.

‘It also improves safety for our rangers, who often face abuse and aggression from members of the public while doing their job,’ its statement added.

Daily Mail Australia contacted City of Sydney Council for comment.

The NSW government is looking into how fines are reviewed.

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