Geelong council caught up in parking fine trouble

THE City of Greater Geelong is reviewing some parking fine appeals that were overturned in the last decade after it was found the process for evaluating parking infringements was allegedly illegal.

Contractual agreements with parking contractor Tenix Solutions, who wrongly ruled on appeals for parking infringements on behalf of the City of Monash and the City of Kingston, has seen the two Melbourne councils both commit to reimbursing more than $2 million worth of parking fine revenue to motorists.

Though the city had also used Tenix, director of planning and development Gareth Smith said it looked like only a small percentage of parking fine appeals would be affected by the review.

“We are currently reviewing the appeals process for some parking infringements issued between 2009-2018.

“The process for reviewing parking infringement appeals is unique to each council, as are the contractual arrangements with Tenix.

“We are confident that our current process for reviewing appeals against parking infringements is sound.

“All reviews and decisions of appeals against parking infringements issued by the City are conducted by the City’s internal ombudsman.”

In a statement issued on March 4, the City of Monash claimed the introduction of the Infringement Act in 2006 saw “not clearly identified” changes made to its ability to allow contractors to carry out the parking fine review process.

It’s not yet clear how many motorists will be reimbursed by the City of Greater Geelong or how much money the city will have to repay.