Melbourne man spends $25,000 fighting $144 parking fine
A Melbourne man who claims he was wrongly fined $144 for parking in a ‘No-Standing’ zone has spent more than $25,000 of his own money, fighting the infringement.
Rob Dols, 78, has refused to shy away from the fight – claiming the parking officer who gave him the infringement is ‘lying’.
Mr Dols claims he was booked for parking in a ‘no-stopping’ zone in Mentone in August 2014.
However he argued he wasn’t actually stopped, he was turning left.
“14 days later I got a fine in the mail, that I got fined $144 and I had to pay it,” he told 7 News.
Instead he took it to court and dragged the appeals process out for three years.
The Mentone man has faced three different court hearings and his appeal was dismissed.
Unfortunately for Mr Dols, and his bank balance, he lost $25,000 in the fight.
His downfall was a Kingston Council Officer, who had snapped a photo of him which showed no brake lights or indicator.
However Mr Dols argued that was luck and that the indicator had ‘flashed off’ when the photo was taken.
He said the car had come to a stop and didn’t need the brake.
“The car just stands by itself, you don’t have to have the stop lights on,” he said.
“This parking officer is lying.”
The council has said it was more than fair with Mr Dols.
The court ruled that he pay its legal fees of $15,000, but as a gesture of goodwill the council only asked for $4,000.
Either way it’s been a costly exercise for Mr Dols, who still maintains he did nothing wrong.
“If I would’ve done it, I would’ve paid it… not a problem,” he said.
