Some residents were fined thousands of dollars.
Hundreds of Central Coast residents have been issued with hefty penalty notices for parking outside their own homes after a fine blitz passed through Umina and Woy Woy.
Residents were fined for parking on nature strips near their properties under laws that restrict drivers from stopping on paths or built up areas.
The notices were issued over the course of a single day with a police car seen driving up and down residential streets of the Peninsula multiple times.
Some families have been hit with thousands of dollars’ worth of fines due to the large number of vehicles parked outside their homes.
While most local police and Central Coast Council rangers will not fine residents for parking in nature strips due to the lack of parking options on the Peninsula, the fines in question were given by a non-local Highway Patrol officer who was in the Central Coast area.
The parking situation on the Peninsula is extremely limited with many resident streets not possessing any kerbs, gutters, or anything to differentiate nature strip and road. Furthermore, some streets in the area are extremely narrow, meaning residents must park off-road in order for traffic to be able to pass through safely.
Member for Gosford Liesl Tesch has expressed her concerns and called for the fines to be withdrawn.
“We have a lot of pensioners and young families living on the Peninsula. These people shouldn’t have to pay hundreds of dollars in fines for parking outside their own homes.
“The timing for this couldn’t be worse, with extra cars parked on the Peninsula during the school holidays, and with family budgets already stretched over the Christmas period.”
Tesch has contacted the Minister for Police and Minister for Finance to demand a review of the fines, and to request that they be withdrawn.
Tesch is urging residents to reach out, and bring in a copy of their fine along with a short paragraph stating that they disagree with the fine, which will be added to the possible review.
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Written by Kate Stevens
Images: Getty
