Got a “Fine” From a Private Car Park? It’s Probably Not a Fine. Here’s What to Do

You parked at a shopping centre, a medical clinic, or a hotel. Maybe you stayed a few minutes over. Now there’s a letter demanding $88, $120, $180 in the name of some parking management company you’ve never heard of, dressed up to look like an official penalty notice, with threats of “further action” and “additional fees”.

Take a breath. This is not a fine. Only a council, a police force, or a government authority can issue a fine. What you’ve received is a demand for payment of an alleged contractual “breach fee”. And the law around those is a lot friendlier to you than the letter wants you to believe.

Your rights

• It’s a contract claim, not a penalty. The operator’s argument is that by parking, you accepted the terms on the signage. To succeed, they must prove the signs were clear, visible, and legible before you entered, and that the terms were reasonable. Faded, hidden, or ambiguous signage undermines their claim.
• Penalty clauses are unenforceable. Under Australian contract law (Paciocco v ANZ, High Court 2016), a fee that is out of all proportion to the operator’s legitimate interest in the parking terms being kept may be an unenforceable penalty. Ask what interest a $120 charge for overstaying by 15 minutes in a free car park actually protects.
• Unfair contract terms (ss 23–28 ACL). Standard-form terms on a sign are subject to the unfair contract terms regime. Disproportionate fees and one-sided terms may be void.
• Misleading or deceptive conduct (s 18 ACL). Notices designed to look like government fines, or letters implying you’ll be taken to court when the operator has no intention of doing so, can be misleading conduct. The ACCC and state regulators have acted against operators for this.
• Debt collection rules. If they hand it to a collector, the ACCC/ASIC Debt Collection Guideline applies. Harassment, misrepresentation of legal consequences, and contact at unreasonable hours are prohibited.

Note: in some states the vehicle owner is not automatically liable, because the “contract” was with the driver. Operators often can’t prove who was driving. Also, in Victoria and New South Wales, operators cannot obtain your details from the roads authority for private breach fees, which is why many letters arrive only after someone photographed your plate and guessed an address, or not at all.

What to do right now

1. Don’t pay on autopilot. Paying is accepting liability. Read the notice and identify the operator, the alleged breach, and the date.
2. Go back and photograph the signage. Every sign at the entry and near your space. Note their height, size, lighting, and whether the terms (including the fee) are actually stated. If you can’t read the fee from the driver’s seat, that’s your defence.
3. Gather your evidence. Receipts from the shops (proving you were a customer), timestamps, any medical or emergency reason for the overstay, and any prior correspondence.
4. Write to the operator disputing the notice. State that you deny any contract was formed, that the fee is an unenforceable penalty, that you require them to cease demanding payment, and that any further misleading correspondence will be reported to the ACCC and state fair trading. If they’ve already threatened court, invite them to file: most won’t.
5. If they keep harassing you, send a formal Letter of Demand requiring them to withdraw the notice, stop contacting you, and confirm no default will be listed. If you’ve already paid under pressure and want it back, the letter demands a refund with a deadline.
6. Report it. The ACCC and your state consumer body both want to hear about deceptive parking notices.

What happens if you just ignore it?

Plenty of people do, and for most private parking notices, nothing happens beyond a few increasingly shouty letters. But “ignore it” isn’t advice we’d give without caveats:

• Some operators do sue. Rarely, and usually only for larger amounts or repeat offenders, but a small-claims filing is possible. If you’ve ignored every letter, you’ll be defending it cold. If you’ve disputed in writing, you’ll have a documented defence ready.
• Debt collectors may be engaged. They can’t list a default on your credit file for a disputed contractual claim without following the proper process, but they’ll try to scare you into paying. A written dispute on file makes their job harder.
• Hire cars and company vehicles. If the car was hired or belongs to your employer, the operator may pursue them, and they’ll pass on an admin fee to you. Disputing early lets you tell the hire company or employer not to pay.

If you already paid and want it back: that’s a valid claim too. Paying under pressure from a misleading notice doesn’t mean you accepted the fee was lawful. A Letter of Demand seeking the refund on the basis that no contract was formed and the fee was an unenforceable penalty is a legitimate claim, and operators sometimes refund rather than have a tribunal examine their signage.

Council fines are different. If the notice is from a council (it will say “penalty notice” or “infringement notice” and cite a road rule or local law), the dispute process is through the council’s review and then the court or fines authority. Don’t apply the private-parking approach to a real fine.

Who to complain to

ACCC (misleading conduct), your state fair trading / consumer affairs office, and if a debt collector is involved and misbehaving, the ACCC and ASIC jointly oversee debt collection conduct. If the operator is part of the shopping centre’s tenancy, complaining to centre management often gets the notice withdrawn faster than anything else.

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