This is the park that earnt the Regterschots a $100 fine. Photo / Channel 7
This is the park that earnt the Regterschots a $100 fine. Photo / Channel 7
A Perth family is refusing to pay a $100 fine for parking in their own driveway.
Sandra Regterschot and her family regularly park several cars outside their Tapping home in the city's northern suburbs.
It was her son's four wheel drive, parked facing the road a metre or so from the gutter on the family's red brick drive, that Wanneroo Council decided was worth a three-figure penalty.
Sandra Regterschot is digging her heels in. Photo / Channel 7
Ms Regterschot received the fine while her son who owns the vehicle was away for five weeks, and she's adamant she won't be paying up.
"I was really angry about it because it was really unjust," the concerned mother told Seven News.
"I couldn't understand why on earth we would get fined for parking in our own driveway."
According to Channel 7 the family's street, which also accommodates a primary school, has recently seen a number of no stopping signs erected and parking restrictions enforced in a bid to alleviate traffic congestion during drop-off and pick-up periods.
The local council has begun handing out the fines for parking on verges in the street.
The council also claims any area past a resident's letterbox or metrebox is council land rather than private property, including the roadside edges of Ms Regterschot's paved driveway.
"Vehicles parked on the crossover or nature strip, between the property boundary and the road are not permitted to park on this section," a City of Wanneroo representative said in a statement to Seven.
"Unfortunately, many residents believe their property includes the full length of the driveway but this is not the case."
These recently erected signs have given council the right to fine residents parked on verges. Photo / Channel 7
Ms Regterschot appeared confounded by the declaration, finding it unusual the council would claim to own land, but not be willing to maintain it, she claimed.
The confused resident said she had been encourages to park her family's vehicles in the parking bays opposite her home, belonging to the school.
"Where are the parents supposed to park if the residents' vehicles are taking up their own parking bays?" she said.
Ms Regterschot has said she will not be coughing up the $100.
