There's almost no worse letter in the mail to receive than a parking fine notification. That heart-sinking letterbox moment has become an increasingly common over the past few years, with a move to ticketless parking fines – and the ticketless fines have also led to a surge in parking fine revenue. After complaints from the public that this kind of penalty system is unfair, it's possible the paper tickets may make a return to your windscreen. Sure, it's also a bad feeling to immediately know you've been penalised – but at least it's easier to dispute a fine when you can take a photo to prove you haven't done anything wrong.
Since 2020, 48 of NSW's 128 councils have transitioned to the ticketless parking fine system. And in 2023 alone, the City of Sydney issued 265,181 ticketless parking fines to the value of a whopping $42.4 million.
In response to the public opposition to the ticketless system, NSW Government Finance Minister Courtney Houssos has written to councils urging those who use ticketless parking fines to adopt a new approach – and they'll also stop new councils from signing up to the system. While Houssos isn’t insisting that councils move away from ticketless fines entirely, she is encouraging a degree of immediate communication when a fine is issued (such as an informal note pre-empting the letter), so that fines are issued "in a fair and transparent way that meets community expectations".
"Providing immediate notification to drivers is the right thing to do and is an important first step to restoring community trust in the administration of the fines system.” Hear, hear.