In Brisbane, a man has had a $100 parking fine halved but ordered to pay $2871 in court costs. According to the Courier Mail, Stephen Hall, of Cleveland, in Redland City, said he thought he had reasonable grounds to appeal against the ticket issued on January 17, 2009, after he parked his motorcycle in George St, in Brisbane’s CBD.
A nearby sign indicated the area to the right of where Mr Hall had parked was a bus zone, but there was nothing to suggest the area to the left was off-limits. When he returned to his bike to find a Brisbane City Council inspector issuing a ticket, Mr Hall was told the area was a no-standing zone.
He claims that “soon after I told the council I would fight the ticket, a new sign went up over the old one, stating the area was no standing. If that had been there in the first place, I wouldn’t have parked there.”