Parking fine rules relaxed on Adelaide city streets over Christmas

Motorists who overstay their metered parking in Adelaide city streets will be given leeway of up to 10 minutes during the Christmas season.

The Adelaide City Council backed a move by councillor Anne Moran to extend the grace period, with the new rules to apply from Friday until January 11, inclusive.

Cr Moran argued Christmas shoppers were being discouraged from going into the city because the council's parking fine policy was too strict.

Lord Mayor Martin Haese said the new-term council would take a look at parking policies in general when it met next year.

"The whole exercise here is for Adelaide City Council to welcome more people to the city and make it easier to come in," Mr Haese said.

"It's a two-part piece - councillor Moran's motion which enables people to have a few more minutes' reprieve over the busy Christmas period, but the bigger issue is after Christmas, and certainly in the new year, we'll be having a good look at car parking policies across the entire city."

The move from Cr Moran followed the release of Freedom of Information documents secured by Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire that found parking inspectors had secured $13.4 million in parking-related fines over the past 12 months.

This included $443,460 from people whose parking ticket had expired by less than 10 minutes.

"If you're a first-time mum bringing your kids in to see Santa, and you get back to your car three minutes late and you have a $48 fine, I don't think you're going to bother to come again, and that's really detrimental to the city," Cr Moran said.

"It's silly of the council to be that strict."