Adelaide City Fines

This page explains your rights regarding "fines" you receive from Adelaide City Fines. See the links at left to navigate this website.

According to ASIC records "Adelaide City Fines Pty Ltd" changed its name in 2009 to "Parking Collection Services Pty Ltd". The Adelaide Now newspaper on January 26, 2007, wrote that "Adelaide City Fines Pty Ltd was accused by Adelaide Council of deliberately engaging in deceptive conduct under the Act by designing expiration notices which closely resemble those issued by the council."

The Adelaide Now Newspaper says "the council last month lodged litigation against Adelaide City Fines in a bid to obtain a Federal Court order declaring their activities to be illegal under the Trade Practices Act. Its statement of claim accuses the two companies of deliberately engaging in deceptive conduct under the Act by designing expiation notices which closely resemble those issued by the council. The claims says that, by designing similar tickets and using similar ticket machines, Mr Damian Lester's companies had "impliedly represented" that its expiation notices were issued and authorised by the council. It also alleges Adelaide City Fines misled customers by falsely claiming they were legally authorised to recover fines."

On the 20th February 2009, the Federal Court of Australia ordered the following:

    • Adelaide City Fines and Park Fast had each engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct, or conduct that is likely to mislead and deceive, in contravention of s 52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974

    • ACF and ParkFast each be restrained for a period of five years from using similar payment notices to the ones they had previously used which mimicked the council fines.

    • ACF and Park Fast pay to the Council its costs of the proceeding

See http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCA/2009/132.html

In 2013, Damain Lester faked unconconsiousness in 2011 to avoid undergoing an alcohol breath test, a judge has found. After refusing three requests to provide a sample of his breath to police, Damian Lester Lester walked back to the front passenger side of his car and attempted to lock the doors before pretending to be unconscious.

Magistrate Simon Smart originally found Lester not guilty. But Justice Anderson overturned the acquittal in the Supreme Court after he found that Lester had disobeyed the original request by police for a breath sample when he was pulled over in North Adelaide. Read more...