You can appeal your infringement if you believe there are grounds for the infringement to be withdrawn, or you believe the infringement was issued by mistake.
As you can only request one review of your infringement, you must provide all relevant information with your application to help us make a decision.
When your application is received, your infringement will be put on hold whilst a review is undertaken and you will be advised of the outcome in writing, usually within 10 working days.
All applications are processed by Council's contractor, Orikan. Orikan provides Council with administrative assistance in the infringement review process. The review decision is made by a Council staff member in accordance with the requirements of the Infringements Act 2006.
First offence
If this is your first parking offence within Hume City, you may be eligible under certain criteria to have your parking infringement notice withdrawn and replaced by an official warning. Consideration will be given to whether the vehicle compromised the safety of other road users or pedestrians, posed a significant inconvenience to vehicles authorised to use to area, or to any other relevant circumstances. You must state in your application that this is your first parking offence.
Narrow streets
If your infringement has been issued for stopping on a nature strip outside your home and you live in a narrow street, you may be eligible to have the infringement notice withdrawn. Consideration will be given to whether your vehicle was causing a safety hazard or damaging Council’s hard infrastructure/assets such as pits and kerbs, and only applies in designated narrow streets.
Appeal grounds
An application can be submitted for one of the following reasons:
- Contrary to law: you believe the infringement notice is invalid, was improperly issued to you or you did not commit an offence. You can provide photographs, witness statements of other evidence to support your application.
- Exceptional circumstances: there were extraordinary or unavoidable circumstances that were outside of your control which could excuse the conduct for which the infringement notice was issued. You can provide a letter from your doctor, breakdown invoices or receipts, a statutory declaration or affidavit, a witness statement, photographs, travel documentation etc to support your application.
- Mistake of identity: you believe you were not the person who committed the offence and the fine was issued to you by mistake. You can provide photographs, identification (birth certificate, drivers license, passport etc) to show you are not the person who committed the offence, or other evidence like travel documentation etc to show you could not have been at the location.
- Person unaware: you were unaware of the infringement notice being issued and are seeking to have the additional costs withdrawn. This application will not result in the infringement notice being withdrawn and the original penalty amount will still need to be paid. To apply for a review on this ground, you must submit your application within 14 days of becoming aware of the infringement. You should include evidence showing why you were unaware of the infringement. This may include documentation to show you were overseas or that you recently moved house, or a police report to show your mail was stolen.
- Special circumstances: you had significantly reduced capacity to either understand or control the conduct that led to the offence due to:
For more information about special circumstances, see section below.
How to I appeal an infringement?
An appeal can be submitted at any time before the expiry of the period to which the infringement notice relates, unless the matter has been referred to Court. This is usually within 12 months of the offence. However, if an application is not received by the due date of the notice, additional fees will be incurred.
For a person unaware application, the application must be submitted within 14 days of becoming aware of the infringement notice.
You will need to write to us outlining the reason for your appeal. Include your name, postal address, infringement number and provide any supporting documentation relevant to your appeal. If another person is writing for you, ensure that you include written authorisation for this person to act on your behalf.
Submit your appeal:
Submit an appeal via the portal
Submit an online form
Special circumstances
If you had a mental or intellectual condition or illness, were homeless, experiencing family violence, or had a serious drug or alcohol addiction at the time of the offence, or you were experiencing a long term condition or circumstance which makes it impracticable to pay the infringement penalty or otherwise deal with the infringement, you may be able to apply to have the infringement reviewed under special circumstances.
Special circumstances may apply to you if, at the time of the offence:
- you had a mental or intellectual disability, disorder, disease or illness, or a serious drug or alcohol addiction, that meant you had significantly reduced capacity to either:
- understand the behaviour was against the law
- control the behaviour that was against the law
- you were homeless and your homelessness meant you had significantly reduced capacity to control the behaviour that was against the law
- you were the victim of family violence and that meant you had significantly reduced capacity to control the behaviour that was against the law
- you were experiencing a long term condition or circumstance which makes it impracticable to pay the infringement penalty or otherwise deal with the infringement, but do not solely or predominantly relate to your financial circumstances.
Supporting documentation from a relevant practitioner will need to be provided to support your application. This supporting letter can be from one of the following people:
- in the case of a mental or intellectual condition:
-
general practitioner
- psychologist or psychiatrist
- psychiatric nurse.
- in the case of a serious addiction to drugs or alcohol:
- general practitioner
- psychologist or psychiatrist
- case manager (from a community or social work facility)
- accredited drug treatment agency
- drug counsellor.
- in the case of homelessness:
- general practitioner
- psychiatrist
- case worker or social worker
- health or community welfare service provider.
- in the case of family violence:
- medical practitioner
- Victoria Police
- family violence case worker or social worker
- health or community welfare service provider.
- in the case of a long term condition or circumstance:
- medical practitioner
- psychiatrist
- psychologist
- case worker or social worker
- Victoria Police (for family violence related circumstances)
- health or community welfare service provider
- accredited drug treatment agency (for substance abuse related circumstances)
- drug counsellor (for substance abuse related circumstances)
The documentation provided should include:
- details of the person providing the information including their name, position and qualifications
- the relationship the person has with you
- a submission about your condition or situation
- an assessment on whether you condition or situation resulted in you having significantly reduced capacity to understand or control the conduct constituting the offence, or makes it impracticable for you to deal with your infringement.
How is the appeal reviewed?
Once your appeal has been received, your infringement will be placed on hold and a review of your infringement will be undertaken by an independent review panel from the Infringement Management department.
The review will consider:
- the information collected by the issuing officer
- the circumstances outlined in your appeal, and any supporting documentation provided
- Council policy or guidelines relevant to the offence
- requirements under the relevant legislation.
What happens next?
We must review our decision to issue the infringement notice within the prescribed timeframe of 90 days. A request for further information will extend that period by a maximum of 35 days.
In most cases, a response will be sent by post within 10 working days.
When deciding on a review, we may:
- request additional information be provided
- uphold and confirm the decision to issue the infringement notice. In this case a new due date for payment will be provided
- withdraw the infringement notice and take no further action
- withdraw the infringement notice and issue an Official Warning
- withdraw the infringement notice and refer the matter to the Magistrates Court.
You will be notified of the outcome of the appeal in writing.