Breaking down somewhere you’re not allowed to park is a nightmare for every driver, but one truck driver expected the front of his house would be safe.
But John Kelly was slapped with a $91 fine on May 4 after his Jeep refused to start when he parked it on the nature strip outside his home on the Sunshine Coast.
Even worse, when he took the council to court because others on his street were not fined for the same offence, he had to fork out six times as much – more than a woman caught driving high on meth.
A man was slapped with a $91 fine on May 4 after his Jeep refused to start when he parked it on the nature strip outside his home (pictured) on the Sunshine Coast
The self-employed driver was making room to get another car out of his driveway and thought the local council would understand his situation.
Instead it told him he should have pushed the Jeep off the verge and denied his request to have the fine withdrawn, according to the Sunshine Coast Daily.
Mr Kelly said his steering locked so he couldn’t move his car at all, but admitted the replacement ignition switch ‘took a while to come’ and he was too busy with work to install it for a few days.
Sunshine Coast Council said parking on verges could only be of an ’emergency, short-term nature’.
The council told him he should have pushed the Jeep off the verge and denied his request to have the fine withdrawn
‘Parking on nature strips can make the area unsafe for the public, especially if pedestrians are forced onto the road surface,’ it said.
Mr Kelly took the day off his self-employed truck driver job to take the council to court but lost and now faces hundreds in extra bills.
He said it ‘did not matter’ that he told Caloundra Magistrates Court others on his street weren’t fined for parking on the verge that day, and he had to plead guilty.
Mr Kelly took the day off his self-employed truck driver job to take the council to Caloundra Magistrates Court (pictured) but lost and now faces hundreds in extra bills
‘It’s just not bloody right. This is so wrong. There’s no consistency,’ he told the newspaper.
He was even more angry when a young woman caught driving high on the drug ice got a $400 fine and two-month licence suspension.
By contrast he had to pay $550 – including an extra $256 for the council’s legal costs, $99 in court costs, and a $118 offender’s levy.