Top 5 Common Parking Fines & How to Avoid Them

Have you ever come back to your car to find an expensive little ticket on your windscreen?

We’ve tracked down the most common ways that parkers get fined, so you know what to look out for next time your battling it out for a legal park.

Yellow Lines

More people get busted for parking on a yellow line than any other parking offence according to Brisbane City Council. Yellow lines are there to indicate that you can’t park there – and the law states there doesn’t need to be any other signage around.

Yellow lines are often on busy roads, as well as narrow roads that need the space for emergency vehicles to get through in case of an accident or for anyone to access the property facing the kerb.

The fine for stopping on a yellow line is 2 penalty units ($309.60), and doubled if you’re blocking access to or from a footpath or driveway, so keep an eye out for where you’re pulling over.

Bus Stops and Zones

Even if you don’t think a bus will swing by on Sunday night when you’re heading out to dinner, the parking inspector or any buses that do arrive probably won’t want to hear about it. Bus zones are usually obvious – there’s normally a shelter or a timetable – but on more suburban streets, it may just be a road sign pointing out the space designated for the bus.

Even if you think you’re in front or behind a bus zone, make sure you’re clearly out of the way of the zone, because a bus isn’t the most graceful vehicle on the road, and you don’t want a bus driver wiping out the front or back of your car – or getting on the radio to have your car towed out of the way of all the other buses on the route.

The fine for stopping in a bus zone, bus lane or transit lane is 2 penalty units ($309.60), so it’s better to find somewhere other than a public transport space to stop than risk a fine.

Loading Zones

Stopping in a loading zone is sometimes necessary, but parking there long term is not a good idea. If you need to drop off passengers, or pick up something, you’re free to use a loading zone (unless it’s signed for commercial vehicles, and you don’t have a permit), and if there’s a designated time period – say Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm – you’re often free to park in a loading zone outside of these times, unless it becomes a no parking, clearway or another restricted zone.

Loading zones usually have times attached to how long you can stay in there, some as short as two minutes for passenger drop off to twenty minutes, often outside of businesses that accept frequent deliveries.

The fine for stopping in a loading zone longer than the posted times is usually 1 penalty unit ($154.80), doubled if it’s a space designated for commercial vehicles. This fine will increase again if the loading zone turns into a no parking zone.

Parking in a Disabled Parking Space

It’s always tempting, if you’ve been circling the car park for 20 minutes and you just need to run in to grab something quickly. But because it’s convenient for you, it means that you’re inconveniencing someone who needs that easy accessibility because of a disability.

Parking in a space reserved for people with disabilities without a current permit is 4 penalty units ($619.20), which is pretty expensive compared to walking a few hundred metres to and from a space that’s not as close to the front door.

Some of the cars at Motorama can help you into a parking space with automatic parking assist, and while we can’t always help you find the closest space to the door, read our guide on how to find cheap parking in Brisbane.