Driver's $201 fine for little-known driveway mistake: 'Never had a problem'

Lacking infrastructure and extreme growth has meant that Gold Coast residents have no choice but to break the parking rules

Courtney Greatrex
·News Editor
Updated ·4-min read
A 4WD parked across the entry to a driveway.
A resident was stunned when she copped a $200 fine for the little-known driveway mistake. Source: Supplied

A driver was left stunned after receiving a $201 council fine for parking the same way she has done for the past seven years — highlighting an ongoing problem for residents in newbuild areas.

Gold Coast resident Bec had parked across the entry to her driveway on her street because — as she puts it the roads are too narrow for drivers to park on both sides of the street.

Despite this, the City of Gold Coast council snapped an image of her car parked across the driveway entrance and sent a fine in the mail. Fuming Bec told Yahoo she has parked in the same way for seven years and "never had a problem".

"I parked across my driveway so no one [else's] driveway or street was obstructed as [there were lots of cars parked in the street," she told Yahoo News Australia. "My house is just off a corner so pulled it back to prevent any accidents as the way they make these garages, [they] are too small to fit both of our cars in it."

Bec and her family are not the only residents to park their cars across driveways and on nature strips and said she'd heard of other neighbours being fined. "They are just out fining heaps of people," she said.

A black ute parked across a driveway entrance.
The driver chose to park across the entry to their own driveway to avoid congestion for other neighbours. Source: Supplied

While Bec admitted they could park further up the street to avoid fines, the last time they did that one of their vehicles got "severely smashed" and was out of action for over three months.

After posting her ordeal to a local community group, others urged Bec to fight the fine. "A lot of people are saying they park on their lawns but the roads are too narrow to park on the street," she said.

She admitted that while she would like to fight the fine, she "doesn't know where to start."

"Cost of living is already too high and $200 for parking in front of my own driveway seems a stretch," she said. "I knew parking adjacent to somebody else's driveway was illegal but not my own one," she said.

The suburb of Pimpana, on the outskirts of the Gold Coast has experienced the highest rate of growth of any suburb outside of capital cities in Australia according to ABS data. However, Gold Coast North Chamber of Commerce secretary Gary Mays previously told the ABC that infrastructure was not keeping up with the rapid population increase — with residents of the suburb being let down by roads and public transport.

A spokesperson for the City of Gold Coast told Yahoo that Queensland road rules state that a vehicle cannot stop on, or across access, to adjacent land.

"The City acts on complaints in these matters and infringements can be issued to vehicles that obstruct a driveway on public land. This includes vehicles parking across a driveway entrance," the spokesperson said.

"While Council cannot comment on specific instances parking across a driveway obstructing public land can create safety hazards such blocking emergency services access to a property. The fine for obstructing a driveway on public land is $201."

Yahoo understands that there is no way for City officers to ascertain who the owner of a vehicle is and whether or not they live at the property the vehicle is parked across.

Australian residents are growing "increasingly frustrated" with illegal parking according to Danny Gorog, CEO & Founder of council reporting app Snap Send Solve.

"Parking on driveways and across footpaths endangers pedestrians, significantly impacts the safety of people using wheelchairs or prams and obstructs essential foot traffic pathways," he said. "Aussie residents are becoming increasingly frustrated with this issue and are encouraged to report hazards."

The platform has recorded a "shape increase" over the past 12 months with New South Wales alone seeing over 4,000 reports of illegal parking, an increase of 37.9 per cent. It's a similar scenario across the country.

"We encourage residents to download our app and Snap any issues of illegally parked cars to notify the relevant local authorities to resolve the issue quickly and efficiently," he said.

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