Australian woman learns parking rule via $123 fine in TikTok video

The Australian claimed she had never heard of the parking rule. Photo / 123rf

An Australian woman was left fuming after being fined AU$116 ($123) for breaking a parking rule she claims she “didn’t even know existed”.

In a TiTok video, Shakira Coldwell, 21, from the Gold Coast, said how she received a parking fine in the mail but claimed she didn’t know about the rule she broke and wanted to know if others did.

The issue was how Coldwell had parked front first in an angled car park in Noosa, Queensland.

“Was I the only one that didn’t know you can get a parking fine for parking nose in, like the front of your car goes in first instead of backing into a car park?” she said in the video, which has been viewed more than 333,000 times.

Coldwell went on to ask viewers whether the rule was specific to Noosa, as she was “pretty sure” you could park either direction in Brisbane or Gold Coast, “as long as you are within the lines”.

According to Noosa’s council website, certain areas enforce ‘rear-in’ or ‘nose-in’ angle parking.

Rear-in angle parking is enforced when it’s the safest way to manoeuvre in and out of a park in a certain area. Nose-in parking, the website states, is typically enforced in areas where businesses or curb-side eateries could be impacted by “toxic vehicle exhaust fumes” from the back of cars.

While Coldwell told viewers she was “clearly” within the white parking lines, she had parked nose first instead of rear first. According to the council website, this likely meant it was riskier for surrounding traffic and pedestrians when she drove out of the parking spot.

“Does that not just seem a bit absurd, a bit bizarre?” she said.

Coldwell allegedly asked a few people about the rear-in/nose-in rule and they also did not know about it.

“I’m within the lines, it doesn’t matter how I’m parked,” she said, adding she had not seen any signs related to the rule.

“I am a bit confused. Is this just a Noosa rule or does everyone know this, because I literally did not know this was a rule” she said, repeating that the fine was also large considering the offence.

“AU$116 for a parking fine, that’s a bit absurd, given I was within the lines,” she said.

In the comments section, people said the rule was well-known and applied to other cities outside Noosa, as it was a standard safety rule.

Some expressed little pity for Coldwell, suggesting there would have been a sign and she just didn’t look.

“As someone who lives in Noosa, I can 100 per cent guarantee there was a sign saying you had to back in,” one person said.

“Probably should read the parking signs when you park” another wrote, while a third person stated “being within the lines literally has nothing to do with it”.

To Coldwell’s credit, other people commented on the video saying they had also never heard of the rule and proposed she contest the fine.

“Never heard of this before I wouldn’t pay it,” one person wrote.

“I’d be challenging that. I have never heard of it and there should definitely be signs so if you can go and check the signage,” another stated.

However, one person said they had received a similar fine in Noosa and said the council continued to contact them until they paid.