Lack of wheels not enough to avoid fines

An interesting debate on which our blog has published many examples is whether parking inspectors should follow the letter of the law in carrying out their enforcement duties, or govern with a certain degree of empathy and consideration depending on the circumstances. In July 2009 for example, we published an article called ‘The people vs the parking police’, citing three instances: two on application of the letter of the law; one erring on the side of leniency.

We came across another example this week which took place in Adelaide that was too good not to publish. Last weekend, a late-night thief robbed a car of its four wheels, leaving it chocked on piles of bricks. The next day, the vehicle owner placed signs on his car with the words ‘police aware’ to make sure any passer by would understand the situation.

Before the new set of wheels arrived, a parking inspector had issued a fine on the immobile vehicle and, returning two hours later he returned to issue another fine! When the owner questioned the second ticket, he was told that the car would be towed the following day if it was not moved.

It is certainly not a normal situation, but do you think that fining a car with no wheels for not moving is the right thing to do?

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