A SWAN Hill man who tried to appeal a $52 parking fine by “hopelessly” arguing local government was illegitimate has ended up coughing up an extra $700.
Gregory McFadyen appeared in Swan Hill Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to revoke a parking infringement issued in April 2014 by Swan Hill Rural City Council.
It was the second time Mr McFadyen’s appeal was heard by the court after he could not appear to an earlier hearing in December due to “family commitments”.
The lawyer representing council, Mathew Sherwell, told the court on that day the absent Mr McFadyen had initiated the civil proceeding after council notified him of the fees he’d incurred from not paying the fine on time.
Mr Sherwell said Mr McFadyen had indicated to council he was appealing the fines because the authority of local government and the Victorian Constitution were invalid, citing two previous cases as precedents.
The Magistrate on the day said “there was no doubt” the leading argument in Mr McFadyen’s case was “hopeless”, but nevertheless adjourned the matter to March 8.
He also ordered Mr McFadyen to pay $600 compensation for costs associated with council bringing Mr Sherwell over to Swan Hill from Melbourne for representation.
This past Tuesday, Mr McFadyen told the court he wanted to settle the matter and asked if he could just pay the initial $52 fine, striking out the late fees.
Changing his defence, Mr McFadyen said he was driving a company vehicle at the time of the infringement and there was no way of telling whether he was the driver.
“I wrote to council to indicate that the ticket may have blown away off my windshield,” he said.
“There’s a thick black line on the bottom of the windshield so it’s very hard to see a ticket if it’s placed there.”
Magistrate John Murphy allowed that Mr McFadyen only had to pay the initial fine, but said he also needed to reimburse court costs — which came out to $700.
