Angry motorists who have been fined for failing to put money into parking meters have questioned the accuracy and legality of the fines issued to them.
One woman who was fined R150 stated that two colleagues who work with her and park right next to her were not fined, but she was. She questioned whether the issuing of the fines was based on who gave the most money to the car guards looking after the vehicles during the day.
Read more: Parking meters becoming a huge joke
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Also read: Outraged with new parking meters in town
The actual fine is a simple print out with no municipal logo and does not resemble any recognised fines.
” If I had not actually looked at it, I would have actually thrown it away. It looked like a till slip you would get from Pick ‘n Pay or Checkers,” says the irate motorist.
“If I had not actually read it, I would not know I had been fined.”
Surely the person issuing fines should have been given a ticket book and the fine should resemble official documents, not till slips.
Worse still, motorists say the meters only accept R2 coins and private car guards are still expecting to be paid while the orange shirt brigade are only interested in money for the meters, and still leave you at the mercy of the private car guards (who also want to be paid).
Motorists have raised questions such as: When did these parking meters become operational? How accurate is the numbering system? How can the municipality prove that you did not pay for the parking meter, as it does not issue receipts and why don’t they issue them?
Motorists have questioned the legality of the tickets, as the issuing officer is not an employee of Alfred Duma Local Municipality or Public Safety.
All money paid when parking goes to a private company, with the municipality only being a legal third party to the transaction. However, the tickets themselves are from Alfred Duma Local Municipality. How can this be?
This may only be a technicality, but begs the question: What the hell are Public Safety up to?
The entire parking system model only starts making money when tickets are being issued. Without the issuing of tickets, the entire system is uneconomical. This begs the question: Is the parking meter system punitive or economic of nature? In layman’s terms, without people being caught and fined, the company and the municipality do not make enough money to sustain costs.
At the time of going to press, the municipality could not offer answers to the above questions.
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