TV reporter falls victim to complicated Aussie parking sign
Eddy Meyer and his TV crew came back to find their car had been towed despite thinking they'd parked correctly.
A confusing parking sign resulted in a reporter and TV crew having their car towed on Monday morning, along with several other vehicles caught out by the sign's instructions.
Channel 9's Eddy Meyer and crew parked their car on York Street, in Sydney's CBD, at 10.30am when he came across a baffling sign that said the area was a special event clearway, a four-hour parking zone, a loading zone, a bus zone, and a no stopping zone.
"We know that street well, we know when we can park there and when we can't," Meyer told Radio 2GB on Tuesday. The regular parking sign was topped with a bright yellow 'Special Event ' notice advising of a clearway between 2-9pm on September 30, October 1 and October 2.
"Normally you can park there for four hours, and that's what the sign said, we looked at the clearway sign and we thought we were clear," Meyer explained, saying they only expected to be there for an hour. He said his cameraman Hamish bought a ticket from the machine, and the machine took the money and issued the ticket.
Meyer shocked to find car had been towed
On returning from the interview, Meyer said their car, among others parked in nearby spots, had been towed away.
"Are you serious with this sign?!! Car was towed even though the machine gave us a ticket," Meyer wrote on his X account on Monday.
"It appears the Clearway is not from 2pm to 9pm on each day — but from 2pm on day one to 9pm on day three! Does that even make sense? So many others towed."
Everyone in his comments were as shocked as he was with the situation, saying just how "appalling" the signage was.
"No reasonable person could read that special event restriction as meaning the 55 hours between 2pm Sat and 9pm Mon," one commenter said.
"Why would normal parking restrictions apply outside those times. I think you’d have a good case to challenge the towing fee and any fine that was applied," said another.
TV car was legally parked
On Tuesday afternoon, Meyer shared an update online that he found out he had parked legally, which is why the ticket machine had allowed them to pay for parking in the first place.
He said Transport for NSW had put the Special Event clearway sign up, not City of Sydney, and now he was trying to cancel the fine and charges.
This was confirmed by former parking inspector Arthur Birch, who told 2GB, "all councils have to use the Australian standards. And, that states that where a sign has 2pm to 9pm that means on whatever day it refers to. So, it's clearly a case where it should only be applied from 2pm to 9pm."
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