Leia Cooper, owner of Headquarters Hair & Beauty on the corner of High St and Belvedere Rd, had told the Times-Age three of her workers had been each hit with $40 fines for exceeding limits last month and workers from the nearby Wild Oats Cafe had been fined at the same time.
The Carterton District Business Incorporated group had taken up the cause on behalf of the workers and business-owners and requested council to extend the parking limits on Belvedere Rd from 60 to 90 minutes, which would bring the parks in line with the nearby main street.
Milan Hautler, Carterton District Council planning and regulatory manager, earlier said the time limits had been in force since 2006 and he had also recommended the council amend the penalties for parking breaches from the present $40 flat fine to a schedule of fines ranging from $12 for a breach of less than 30 minutes to $57 for a breach of six hours or more.
In his email to council, Mr O'Connor said he had researched the $40 fines handed out in Carterton and consequently discovered "significant errors" in council practice and procedure regarding time-restricted parking in the town.
He said the relevant bylaw was legally deficient and lacked proper statutory references.
"These errors are fatal," he said, and the Carterton District Council "is acting unlawfully".
He said the bylaw must be immediately amended and all consequent fines cancelled, and "any fines paid should be refunded by the council without delay".
Mr Hautler said yesterday he was yet to read the email and the correspondence was unlikely to be tabled at the council meeting today.
The council had yet to enforce a time limit parking fine under the 2006 bylaw and the hairdresser and cafe workers ticketed last month had instead received a final warning.
"I don't think anybody has ever been fined. I don't think so. Some have been threatened with a fine but I'm not aware that anybody has been required to pay."
However, Mr Hautler said council officers would be more vigilant about enforcement of parking bylaws.
