Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads

An email complaint by a Queensland resident to the Queensland TMR resulted in this letter back from the TMR.

Dear xxxxx,

Parking Enforcement Services is a division of "Wilson Parking". Wilson Parking, via their solicitors, have access to CITEC which is an online database that may be used upon application to the department for parking and litigation related matters.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads operate under the legislative authority of the Transport Operations and Road Use Management Act 1995(TORUMS) which governs registration information.

The authority to search vehicle registration records for the purposes of enforcing regulated parking in private car parks is found under Section 115 of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management - Vehicle Registration) Regulation 2010 (the Regulation).

Section 115 of the Regulation allows the release of personal information to certain entities or “involved persons” for litigation purposes. TORUMs provide that an "involved person" means a person who proposes to commence, or has commenced, litigation.

The Regulation goes on to define "litigation" to include a proceeding, or a proposed proceeding, in a court for which information in the register about a particular vehicle is, or may be, of relevance, but only if—

(a) the proceeding is about—

(i) an incident on a road or somewhere else involving the vehicle

The definition of a "road" under the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995 (TORUM Act) includes a shopping centre car park.

All clients with access to CITEC (including Wilson Parking) must meet eligibility guidelines to be approved for access by the department and must be able to provide documentation supporting the basis for any search of CITEC when an audit is undertaken.

Kind regards,

xxxx xxxxxx

Principal Advisor (Information Privacy) | RTI, Privacy and Complaints Management

Corporate Operations | Department of Transport and Main Roads

Floor 5 | Capital Hill | 85 George Street | Brisbane Qld 4000

GPO Box 1549 | Brisbane Qld 4001

P: (07) 3066-7103 | F: (07) 3066-7101

M: n/a

E: xxx.x.xxxx@tmr.qld.gov.au

road—

(a) includes a busway under the Transport Infrastructure Act 1994; and

(b) includes an area that is—

(i) open to or used by the public and is developed for, or has as 1 of its uses, the driving or riding of motor vehicles, whether on payment of a fee or otherwise; or

(ii) dedicated to public use as a road; but

(c) does not include an area declared under a regulation not to be a road. Example of an area that is a road — a bridge, cattle grid, culvert, ferry, ford, railway crossing, shopping centre car park, tunnel or viaduct

A. Find out who accessed your details

1. Goto: http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Contact-us.aspx

2. In answer to "are you contacting us", click the option "to make a complaint"

3. In answer to "... do you give consent" click "yes, I agree".

4. In bottom right hand corner, click "Continue"

5. You will be taken to the next page

6. In response to "have you raised this issue with the department before?", click "No".

7. Enter nothing in the box "please provide detailed why you would like this complaint reviewed".

8. In the box "Please provide details of your complaint" enter something along the lines of:

I have received a demand for money from <enter name of parking company>. Please provide the name and dates of all persons who have accessed my registration details in the last two years.

9. Under "What would you like to happen to resolve your complaint". Enter the following:

Please send me the details I have asked for.

10. Under "Contact details", enter your name, address, contact phone number and your email address. TMR will contact you and you can then provide copies of emails and letters you received from the parking company.

B. Find out why they accessed your details

Once you have those details, then make a Freedom of Information request as follows:

1. Goto :http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/About-us/Right-to-Information/How-do-I-access-information.aspx

2. Under the heading "How to access documents", you will a link labelled "e-RTI online form". Click on that link.

3. You will be taken to the "About Right to Information and Information Privacy application" screen.

4. For the question "Have you investigated the alternate options for accessing information above?", click "Yes, but I have not yet found what I'm looking for — continue".

5. For the question "Is the information you seek available for separate purchase?", click "No, lodge a formal application — continue".

6. For the question "Is the information you seek held by a statutory authority, local government, government owned corporation or public authority?", click "No, the information is held by a government department — continue".

7. Then towards the bottom of the screen, click "Apply online".

8. This should take you to the "Right to Information application form".

9. For the question "Which description most closely describes your application for access?", click the option "All of the documents I'm applying for contain my personal information OR I'm acting on someone's behalf and all the documents contain that person's personal information - IP Act application, no application fee".

10. For the question "Are you seeking access for the use or benefit of another person, company or body", click "No".

11. For the question "Which department are you applying to?", choose "Department of Transport and MainRoads" from the dropdown box.

12. For "Unit", leave as "--all units--".

13. For the question "Have you spoken to an RTI officer in the department about the information you seek?", click "Yes".

14. For the question "Subject matter of the documents you are seeking", enter the following:

From an enquiry I prevsiously made to TMR, I learnt that <enter name of person who access your records>" access my registration records. I understand that to do so, they needed to provide supporting documentary evidence provided to TMR to show they met the current requirements for the release of the information". Accordingly, I am seeking a copy of the documents that Johnson Winter & Slattery provided to TMR to justify their access to my my registration records on date <enter date you of access> to access the customer record of registration number <enter your registration nbr>.

By being able to read these documents, I will be able to ascertain if:

1) TMR have release my records in accordance with TORUMS.

2) The person who accessed my records has been truthful in their statements, and have following any procedure they promised to the TMR they would

follow.

It is in the public interest that TMR only access records as allowed under the regulations, and that TMR provide proof that they are doing so when requested.

15. Under "The type of documents" enter: "Correspondence".

16. Under "time period" enter the date the TMR told you your records had been accessed.

17. Under "preferred access type", click "Copy of documents" and "DVD".

18. Click "Confirm Application".

C. Making a complaint about a parking company in Queensland

1. Goto: http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Contact-us.aspx

2. In answer to "are you contacting us", click the option "to make a complaint"

3. In answer to "... do you give consent" click "yes, I agree".

4. In bottom right hand corner, click "Continue"

5. You will be taken to the next page

6. In response to "have you raised this issue with the department before?", click "No".

7. Enter nothing in the box "pelase provide detailed why you would like this complaint reviewed".

8. In the box "Please provide details of your complaint" enter something along the lines of:

On 99/99/9999 I received a demand from Traffic Monitoring Services. I advised them I was not the person responsible for their demand. However, they continued sending me various threats. Section 115 of the Regulation allows the release of personal information to certain entities or “involved persons” for litigation purposes. Litigation involves commencing legal proceedings and the serving of court papers on me which they haven't done.

9. Under "What would you like to happen to resolve your complaint". Enter the following:

I would like TMR to initiate an investigation the parking company and if it is found, as I claim, that the parking company is breaching 115 of the Regulation, I would like the following to occur:

- I would like TMR to stop providing any personal details to this company.

- I would also like TMR to initiate legal action against the parking company for breaching the regulation. This may involve a joint action with the Queensland Office of Fair Trading.

- I would also like TMR to advise me of the outcome of my complaint and TMR's investigation.

10. Under "Contact details", enter your name, address, contact phone number and your email address. TMR will contact you and you can then provide copies of emails and letters you received from the parking company.

Email complaints

I believe complaints can also be made by email. See http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/help/privacy.aspx