How to appeal a parking fine
How to request a review of your parking infringement and the steps involved.
If you have received a parking fine from Yarra City Council and believe it was issued in error or have valid grounds for an appeal, you may request a review. Every application is carefully assessed in accordance with legislation.
Find out how the process works, view potential outcomes, and start your application here.
You can also:
Our team is currently reviewing internal reviews, and the estimated wait time is 15-25 days.
Note: The Infringement will be placed on hold until an outcome is reached.
Your infringement photos
Before you appeal, you should view photos of your parking infringement online. You must provide your infringement number and vehicle registration number to view the photos.
We can only review fines issued by Yarra City Council.
Please note that we are unable to review your fine if:
- you have already paid the fine,
- you have an active payment arrangement with Fines Victoria,
- the fine has been registered with Fines Victoria, or
- has been referred to Magistrates Court.
You may only request a review once, so ensure you provide all relevant information and supporting documents with your application.
How to appeal a parking fine
Step 1 - Check you have grounds for review
If you do not have grounds for review, you may not be successful.
Grounds for review
This can be used if a person believes that the decision to serve the infringement notice was unlawful.
Applicant to lodge an internal review application on the ground that they were unaware of the infringement notice. Service of the notice must not have been by personal service.
Where the applicant has enough awareness and self-control to be liable for their conduct but has a good excuse for that conduct being unavoidable or exception, such as a medical emergency.
Where a person claims that they were not the person who committed the infringement offence, and you have evidence to support your claim.
Special circumstances may apply to you if at the time you received a fine if one of the following situations contributed to you having a significantly reduced capacity to either understand or control the behaviour which caused the offending to occur.
Special circumstances refer to:
- had a mental or intellectual disability, disorder, disease or illness or,
- had a serious addiction to drugs, alcohol or a volatile substance or,
- were homeless or,
- were affected by family violence or,
- You cannot deal with your fines because of severe disabling long-term circumstances, even if those circumstances did not exist at the time of the offence.
Documents to support a special circumstance review
You must provide evidence from a practitioner or agency who is familiar with your circumstances. The evidence should be less than 12 months old.
Depending on your circumstances, this may be your:
Mental or intellectual disability, disorder, disease or illness:
- general practitioner or medical specialist
- psychologist, psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse.
Serious addiction to drugs, alcohol or a volatile substance
- general practitioner or medical specialist
- psychologist or psychiatrist
- case manager
- accredited drug treatment agency or counsellor.
Homelessness
- case worker or case manager
- recognised health, support or welfare agency (for example, the Salvation Army).
Family Violence
- medical practitioner
- Victoria Police
- family violence case worker or social worker
- health or community welfare service provider.
Evidence may include, reports, letters, statements, submissions, statutory declarations, police reports and family violence safety notices.
Your practitioner or agency report should include:
- your practitioner's qualifications
- your practitioner's relationship with you and how long they have known you
- an explanation of your circumstances, including its nature, severity, duration, and impact on your life
- the link between your circumstances and your offending behaviour.
Step 2 - Eligibility to apply for a review
An appeal must come from one of the following:
- Registered vehicle owner or legally nominated driver.
- Authorised company representative if applying on behalf of a body corporate.
- Authorised third party with pre-existing written authority to act on behalf of a person.
The registered owner can nominate the driver responsible for the parking fine. The driver can then apply for a review after the fine is reissued in their name.
Step 3 - Before you apply for a review
We will place your fine on hold while we review. Council has 90 days to complete the review and provide an outcome.
Do not pay the fine until you receive your decision. We can't review an infringement once payment is received.
The law gives you one chance to request a review, so make sure you provide all the details and supporting third-party documents up front.
You can see common grounds for review and outcomes below.
Possible review outcomes
After reviewing your circumstances and documents, our authorised officer may:
- confirm the decision to issue the infringement notice
- withdraw the infringement notice
- withdraw the infringement notice and issue an official warning
- withdraw the infringement notice and refer the matter to court
- waive all or any prescribed costs
- approve a payment plan/extension
- any combination of these actions.
- the infringement was lodged with Fines Victoria
- If you are appealing on someone's behalf without the appropriate authorisation or,
- If legal proceedings have begun.
Please note that internal reviews cannot be accepted in any of the above circumstances.
An appeal is highly unlikely to be successful, as it's your responsibility to find relevant signs and comply with them.
If you think you paid for parking but entered the wrong details, give us as much information as possible so we can consider your appeal.
If there is a medical emergency, you must provide an official letter from your hospital or doctor confirming that you were involved, and how it stopped you from parking legally.
An appeal is highly unlikely to be successful, you should allow for delays when choosing where to park.
An appeal is highly unlikely to be successful, if you see a no stopping sign, you must not stop in that area for any reason or length of time. This includes when your hazard lights are on and when there are people in the vehicle.
We only consider withdrawing fines if you were the driver and your permit recently expired or was not correctly displayed.
We expect you to take action straight away if your car breaks down. We won't consider your case if there was an unnecessary delay in repairs or towing arrangements.
If your car broke down, you must supply a one of the following:
- Letter (with letterhead) from your roadside assistance provider with your registration, and the date, time and location of the repairs.
- Mechanics invoice with date, time and work performed.
- Towing invoice or receipt with your registration, and the date, time and location of the towing.
You can apply for an extension of time to pay your fine.
An appeal is highly unlikely to be successful, as we don't consider good character or clear records as this is not a consideration under the Infringements Act.
If you were not the driver and did not commit the offence at the time, you can nominate another person.
Step 4 - Appeal online or in writing
To request a review, you must apply in writing or online (we don't accept appeals by phone).
Please ensure that you:
- direct your request to the infringement review team (the Mayor and Councillors cannot respond to letters about fines)
- identify the grounds for your request.
- supply all supporting documents
When you apply for a review of an infringement notice on the grounds of special circumstances or exceptional circumstances, we may collect health information from you. This information is collected for the purpose of assessing your application as authorised under the Infringements Act 2006 (Vic).
Your information will be used to evaluate your request and determine if the circumstances you've described meet the criteria for a review. We may also use this information to communicate with you about your application. We will not use or disclose your health information for any other purpose unless we have your prior consent, are required or permitted by law.
If all requested information is not provided, we may be unable to properly assess your application for a review.
Please visit our privacy policy for more information.
Additional information
When Council considers your appeal, we are guided by:
For more information about fines in Victoria including how infringement notices work, what penalties apply, how fines are enforced, please visit Department of Justice and Community Safety.