By Brendan Rees
A Cranbourne East mother has been left furious after she and her daughter were handed fines for parking on their nature strip as they obeyed stay-at-home restrictions.
Olga Rudakova has accused Casey Council of lacking “any morals” after she and her 23-year-old daughter were slapped with $99 fines as they worked from home on Thursday 30 July.
Rudakova said she understood it was illegal to park on a nature strip but due to the many cars parked in her narrow street at Thistlewood Place and with more people at home due to the lockdown “we don’t have a spot to park”.
“It is just money for council. Instead of doing something about it … they’re walking around sending fines at this difficult time.
She said the fines were issued a minute apart just before 11am. The mother of three, whose household has four cars, said she would “definitely not” be paying the “dodgy” fines and hoped council would be sympathetic and withdraw the fines.
“I don’t think that’s very ethical,” she said. “It’s very difficult for people to manage their bills. Two of my daughters – they lost their jobs.
“It seems like somebody wants to be a good worker without any morals.”
Casey Council manager of safer community Caroline Bell confirmed the two vehicles that received infringements on 30 July were parked on a nature strip on the corner of T- intersection.
“Parking in this manner restricted visibility of other drivers and poses a risk to pedestrian’s safety. In addition, the cars have caused significant damage to the nature strip, and potentially subsurface infrastructure i.e. piping and drainage systems,” Ms Bell said.
“We appreciate that these are difficult times for all residents, and we ask our community to be kind and considerate of others when parking.
“Providing our community with high-quality parking compliance Services, while ensuring the safety of our community members and council staff, continues to be a priority.”
Ms Bell said with more people staying at home council understands there is an increase in the number of cars parked in neighbourhoods “however, in order to park legally, this may mean you are unable to park directly in front of your own home”.
“In response, parking compliance officers operate under a risk/safety model and may issue an infringement in circumstances where there is a risk of injury or compromised safety to the community.”
