Park right – or else

By Melissa Grant
SHOPPERS beware: abide by parking signs or risk being fined.
That’s the message from Cardinia Shire councillors who this week voted in favour of employing a designated parking officer to patrol the municipality.
The imminent introduction of the officer is part of a crackdown on illegal parking in the shire, which will focus on those who illegally park in disabled and time restricted zones.
Councillor Collin Ross said he was sick of seeing motorists abuse one-hour parking zones in Pakenham’s CBD. He said those spots seemed to be dominated by single cars throughout the day, and that policing time restrictions would increase traffic flow.
Cr Ross added that it wasn’t just one-hour zones being abused, with able-bodied people snapping up many disabled parks.
“These disabled parks are there for people who have genuine problems,” he said.
Cr George Blenkhorn said shoppers could no longer expect to have a car park wherever they wanted and for however long they required.
“Long-term parking people will have to park away from the shops, which they have not been doing,” he said.
Neil Thorpe, the council’s general manager of corporate services, said shoppers would have plenty of warning about the parking crackdown.
Mr Thorpe said it was likely warnings would be issued for first-time offences, but warned the council wouldn’t be so lenient when it came to disabled parks.
“There will be no grace period,” he said of infringements for disabled zones.
Pakenham traders have previously expressed concerns about the introduction of a parking officer, fearing the proposal would drive shoppers away from the town’s retail heartland.
They weren’t convinced it was the right time for a parking crackdown, saying motorists already had enough parking issues to contend with, considering the imminent construction of an $80 million retail hub.