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You have the right to appeal a parking fine if:

  • you believe you were issued a fine unfairly
  • you have a valid reason for your fine to be withdrawn.
To appeal a parking fine, you need to submit your appeal before the due date on your fine.

You can't submit an appeal if you've already paid your parking fine.

Before you appeal, understand your parking fine and look at the photos taken of the infringement. This helps you decide what action to take to resolve your parking fine. Visit our Understand your parking fine page.

Reasons you can appeal

You can appeal your parking fine in certain circumstances. These reasons are set by the Victorian State Government.

Exceptional circumstances

You can appeal your parking fine if you experienced an unexpected or unavoidable event, such as:

  • a medical emergency
  • you temporarily parked a damaged vehicle directly after an accident
  • your vehicle broke down.

You need to attach documentation that supports your exceptional circumstance and is relevant to the time and date of your fine. 

Documents that help us review your fine include:

  • a current accessible, residential, or traders parking permit
  • a relevant temporary parking permit
  • a purchased parking ticket
  • a photo of reported faulty meter
  • a medical certificate 
  • a receipt from a mechanic or tow truck 
  • a letter on company letterhead that verifies your exceptional circumstance.

Special circumstances

You can appeal your parking fine if you:

  • have an intellectual disability
  • have a mental illness or disorder
  • have a serious addiction to drugs or alcohol
  • were experiencing homelessness
  • were affected by family violence.

In your appeal, provide evidence from a qualified medical practitioner, social worker or drug and alcohol counsellor that:

  • confirms the special circumstances
  • explains how it resulted in you being unable to understand or control the behaviour that led to your fine.

For more details on special circumstances and what evidence to provide visit the Fines Victoria website.

If you need help applying, your health practitioner or case worker can apply on your behalf. 

Other options for special circumstances

If your fine resulted from family violence, find out if you're eligible for support through the Family Violence Scheme on the Fines Victoria website. 

For a different way to address your fine, such as counselling or unpaid work, find out if you're eligible for the Work and Development Permit on the Fines Victoria website.

Contrary to the law: the fine is not valid 

You can appeal your parking fine if you believe that either: 

  • the fine is not valid (for example you received a fine for parking in a loading zone on a Saturday, but the zone rules only apply Monday to Friday)
  • the officer who issued the fine acted unfairly, improperly or outside of the law or their authority. 

In your appeal it's helpful to include a photo of the sign where your parking fine was issued.

Mistaken identity: the fine was issued to the wrong person

You can appeal your parking fine by submitting a nomination statement if you weren’t the driver who committed the parking offence.

If someone else was driving the vehicle when the parking offence occurred, you can nominate the driver by completing our online Nomination statement.

If your car was stolen, provide a copy of the police report.

If your registration number was recorded incorrectly, provide a copy of your vehicle registration certificate.

Submit a Nomination statement

Person unaware (you did not know about the fine)

If you didn't know about your parking fine and missed the due date, you can appeal to get more time to pay it.

You can appeal your fine if you first found out about it through a notice in the post.

You need to appeal within 14 days of finding out about the fine.

You can't appeal your fine if you moved house, but did not notify VicRoads that you changed your address within 14 days of moving.

You will need to provide a reason as to why you did not know about the fine.

In your appeal, you need to provide evidence to support your claim that you were unaware. For example:

  • an invoice from a removalist showing that you moved house
  • an address change confirmation from VicRoads
  • a report about your mail being stolen.

If your appeal is successful, you'll have another 21 days to pay your fine, and you won't have to pay any extra costs such as late fees.

Reasons not accepted for appeal

We can't withdraw your parking fine if you:

  • tell us this is your first offence but don't have a valid reason to appeal
  • misread or didn’t see the parking sign
  • were delayed at an appointment
  • were in a hurry
  • couldn’t find anywhere else to park
  • were dropping children off late to school
  • moved your vehicle from one parking space to another in the same parking area (an area controlled by the same parking sign)
  • parked for a very short time
  • didn't display a valid parking permit
  • believed that because the ticket parking machine was broken there were no restrictions
  • left the vehicle to get cash or ran out of cash to pay the parking fee
  • stopped to make a quick delivery or let a passenger in or out
  • left the vehicle because you or a passenger needed to use the toilet
  • stopped to answer your mobile phone
  • made an honest mistake
  • stopped beside a parked vehicle waiting for another driver to return and drive away.

Appealing your parking fine

If you have a valid reason to appeal your fine, complete our online form.

Please note: you can only have one appeal per parking fine, so make sure you choose the right reason for appeal. This is in line with the Infringements Act 2006.

Appeal a parking fine

You can also write to the City of Boroondara, Private Bag No. 1, Camberwell, VIC 3124. Include in your written appeal:

  • your infringement number
  • reason for appeal
  • supporting documents.

What happens next

If we need more information from you, we will request it in writing. You will have 14 days from receiving the request to provide the additional information.

We assess your application in line with the Infringements Act 2006 and the Attorney-General’s Guidelines to the Infringements Act 2006. These outline what evidence is required under different circumstances.

Expect it to take up to 90 days for us to assess your appeal. We will let you know the outcome of your appeal in writing.

Your fine will be on hold while we assess your appeal. This means the due date doesn't apply and you won't have to pay any extra fees.

We can't review your fine over the phone, but if you have any questions you can call us on (03) 9278 4444. We won't accept rude, abusive or disrespectful comments.

More information

To pay your parking fine or find out if you're eligible to set up a payment plan, visit our Pay a parking fine page.

If you lost your infringement notice and need to know your infringement number, call us on (03) 9278 4444 with your car registration number.

For information on valid reasons to appeal a parking fine visit the Fines Victoria website.

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