Knox Council Spends thousands

Knox City Council has been acccused of willfully wasting ratepayers funds after it racked up thousands of dollars in city lawyers' fees perusing a father of two over a $141 parking fine. The council ultimately lost the court case.

Upwey resident John Ferguson represented himself at the Ringwood Magistrates' Court on November 27 and December 2, in sessions that lasted a total of about 13 hours.

Mr Ferguson faced off against a lawyer from Maddocks after he refused to pay a fine for allegedly stopping in a no-standing zone outside his son's Ferntree Gully school.

The magistrate dismissed the fine and ordered the council to pay $503.30 in costs.

Knox Council would not reveal the size of its legal bill, saying it would reveal the fees in its next annual report. But a nearby solicitor said clients could expect to pay at least $300 an hour for representation from an inner-city law firm, which amounts to about $4000 for one laywer's court appearances alone.

Council records show two local laws officers recorded twenty-three infringements, including Mr Ferguson's fine, within 30 minutes outside St Joseph's College in Brenock Park Drive on September 4, 2012. Mr Ferguson said he always drove into the school grounds before dropping off his son, but this timeremembered having to wait behind another car that day, which had stopped illegally. He asked for the fine to be reviewed and requested copies of the officers' notes and photographs, but the council stood firm. "They sent me a letter to say they did a review, but when we got to court neither local laws officer had been questioned as part of the review," he said. Council records show the officers recorded the driver was female - not male and thatg the colour of the car was incorrect. There was also confusion over which side of the street the officers were on, Mr Ferguson said. "That should have come out in the review, they should have said, 'We don't have our facts right here, why don't we just dismiss this infringement'.

Municipal Association of Victoria president Cr Bill McArthur said Victorian councils issued more than 1.6 million parking fines annually. "The Auditor General's annual report confirms that fewer than 1 per cent of people elect to go to court," Cr McArthur said.

Knox Council issued 5288 parking fines, received 754 requests for a review and withdrew 365 notices, about 7 per cent.

The Knox Ratepayers Association (KRA) called for better staff training of council staff.

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