Griffith 'unfairly targeted' by parking fines, business owners say

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws have shown the vans picked up 3006 fines between July 2019 and February 2020, which led to more than $433,725 in infringements.

The number of fines recorded in Griffith by the vans in that time was almost three times as much as the second-highest suburb.

Manuka business owners said the amount of fines issued in Griffith had impacted upon trade in the area, which had been struggling due to coronavirus.

However, an ACT government spokesman said parking patrols were determined by data and public safety concerns. An area may experience increased frequency of parking patrols where dangerous parking had been recorded or complaints received.

The spokesman noted that between March and early August the government had only focused on the enforcement of unsafe parking activity, not overstaying time limits, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chair of the Inner South Business Council John-Paul Romano said Manuka businesses and inner-south residents had been "unfairly targeted".

"Why should people in the inner-south not be afforded the same benefit at other local shops where people there have been afforded copious amounts of free parking?" Mr Romano said.

"Griffith has ranked [for the number of parking fines] higher than other comparable town centres like Erindale and Wanniassa."

Of the top five suburbs in Canberra in terms of the number of parking fines issued from licence plate recognition vans, three of them were in the inner-south.

Following Griffith, Macquarie was the second-highest with more than 1100 fines, followed by Kingston with 1080, Barton on 983 and Braddon rounding out the top five with 963.

One factor accounting for Griffith's high number of infringements, according to the government spokesman, was that due to the large amount of on-street parking, van patrols were favoured to foot patrols. Foot patrols were used where there was a greater concentration of off-street car parks.

Griffith recorded only 2200 foot patrol infringements in 2019-2020, compared to almost 15,000 foot patrol infringements in the city, 7137 in Phillip and 4145 in Belconnen.

"It is important to note that the suburb capture of Griffith in the reporting also includes areas of Kingston and Manuka," the spokesman said.

"It includes areas such as around Manuka Oval, as well as areas around the Kingston Hotel, around major schools and shopping precincts in those areas."

The spokesman said there were a high number of safety infringements in Griffith, including stopping on pedestrian crossings, no-stopping zones and parking in loading zones, no-parking zones, footpaths and nature strips.

"This is disappointing and we encourage drivers in the area to keep safety front of mind when parking in these areas," he said.

"Illegal parking can be dangerous not only to pedestrians but other motorists and vulnerable road users, particularly if line-of-sight issues are created by illegal parking."

It was important to note businesses often requested greater parking patrols as they relied on the turnover in parking to allow a greater number of customers to access their businesses, the spokesman said.

He confirmed the government did not have any quotas or targets in place for parking infringements and safety and equity was key to enforcement activity.

During the eight-month period, more than 18,000 infringements were issued, leading to almost $2.7 million in fines.

Figures also showed Griffith was the second-highest suburb for fines from the vans during 2018-19, with only Macquarie having more in that financial year.