By ANNA USHER

Ticketless parking fines in the North Sydney Council area have led to a boom in revenue, with latest statistics revealing 51,251 penalties were issued in 2023, raking in a staggering $8,668,878.

This equates to one ticket being issued every ten minutes.

It comes as NSW Minister for Finance Courtney Houssos urged councils, including North Sydney, to adopt “common sense” changes and revert to traditional ticketing methods.

“The current implementation of the ticketless parking system has eroded trust in the parking fine system,” Houssos wrote to North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker.

“I am requesting your council enhances your parking fine processes so that drivers are provided immediate, written notification at the time they are issued with a parking fine … this could be as simple as a note which could take the form of a standardised, pre-printed card.”

The Minister cited key concerns prompting the new directive, including the reduced impact of a fine to act as an immediate deterrent and the difficulty for motorists to gather evidence to dispute a fine after it had been issued.

Ticketless parking was introduced on a trial basis in 2020, with 48 out of NSW’s 128 councils adopting the system. The minister has now banned LGA’s taking up the digital scheme until Revenue NSW investigates.

North Sydney Council signed up to the service in November 2021, with a spokesman saying: “This has significantly reduced the level of confrontation and aggression our parking officers experience in their work”, at the time.

Figures obtained by Mosman Collective show 2023 saw the largest number of fines issued in North Sydney, with 51,251 tickets, up 8,597 from the year before.

In 2020, Covid saw a drop in notices, with 35,950 cars booked by the 15 Parking Rangers currently employed by North Sydney.

Mosman Council confirmed it did not opt into the ticketless system, saying 17, 875 traffic fines were issued by Rangers in the 2022-23 financial year, amounting to $3,172,891.
A spokesperson for North Sydney Council said it had no intention to voluntarily move back to the paper system and would not be leaving written communication either.

“Council will continue to conduct its enforcement work electronically in order to reduce levels of confrontation and aggression experienced by parking officers.”

Parking fines issued by local councils make up half of all fines processed by Revenue NSW.