Resident’s ‘frustrating’ driveway problem reveals little-known $302 parking offense

A driver’s frustrating decision on Monday morning has highlighted a little-known parking offense which can see drivers fined $320 in some council areas. But it also disrupted one woman’s birthday plans.

Amber Cunningham was looking forward to celebrating her 20th birthday with a family breakfast when, upon leaving, she noticed a car parked across their driveway in Newcastle, NSW, blocking them in and completely stalling their plans.

“I first noticed the car at about 7:30 am this morning… I was extremely frustrated and a little upset,” she told Yahoo News. “We have a lot of people parking in front of our house and getting really close to our driveway, but never smack bang in the middle of our driveway.”

After their plans were on jeopardy, the family were eventually able to make breakfast as they jumped into another family member’s car. They reported the issue to a towing company, however, when they returned home the car was gone, with the family suspecting it was a neighbor who made a quick getaway.

“We suspected it was the neighbor’s car, we have seen the car around but it has never been parked directly outside the front of our house,” she said.

Parking across a driving is an offense across Australia with fines being issued to guilty drivers. In NSW drivers who block access to a driveway, even if it’s their own, by either parking partially or completely over it, or parking over a footpath can be issued a $320 fine, with Cunningham admitting she “didn’t know you could be fined “for this.

Purposes apply in other parts of the country too, with Brisbane City Council fining drivers two penalty units for the offence, or up to $322.60, for the act in the city.

Recently in Canberra, one man copped $132 for parking on his own driveway because the back of his vehicle obstructed the pavement and subsequently access for pedestrians, which incurs a similar penalty to obstructing a driveway. The issue is also rife in Perth with lots of drivers dobbing in their neighbors for parking on footpaths.

This week, one couple claim they were ‘screwed over’ by their local council copping a $362 parking fine for parking across their own driveway – despite doing the same thing for the past 12 years.

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