Griffith City Council has defended a spate of recent out-of-the-blue parking fines given to truck drivers passing through the city, saying it must follow the law when acting on complaints received.
However, in the statement released on Wednesday council said it would be undertaking a complete review of the heavy vehicle parking restrictions across the city and during this time compliance officers would not be issuing fines to heavy vehicle operators.
Residents were outraged on Tuesday by news drivers staying in motels lining Jondaryan Avenue had been fined for parking their trucks on the street overnight.
An overwhelming 95 per cent of the 377 people who took part in a survey conducted by The Area News overnight said they believed trucks should be allowed to park outside the motels lining the avenue.
“These drivers are taking mandated rest breaks which make our roads safer for everyone,” Sonya Sal commented.
“Tis [sic] better for them to rest and restore then to drive that bit further down the road and have an accident and kill someone,” Heather Erskine commented.
“I say to the people that are protesting against these drivers let's get back to people having some commonsense in these issues, the benefits of many far out way the negativity of a few.”
RMS road rules prohibit heavy vehicles from parking in built up areas for longer than one hour and Griffith Mayor John Dal Broi said council had been acting in accordance with the legislation when issuing the fines.
“The fines issued previously will stand, however those issued with fines are able to seek leniency with the State Debt Recovery Office based on your circumstances or if you feel the fine has been issued in error,” Cr Dal Broi said.
“We appreciate operators may be frustrated but council must act on complaints received and act according to law.
“On a positive note, this issue highlights that Griffith is booming – we have busy businesses across the area and and a huge amount of freight is being generated signalling strong economic growth.”
Cr Dal Broi said council had been fielding numerous complaints regarding semi trailers and heavy or long vehicles being parked in built up areas including Altin Street, Hanwood and Beelbangera.
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