A heavily pregnant woman, just days before giving birth, remembers her shock after receiving a parking fine while she was buying a ticket at the parking meter.
Taylor opened up 3AW presenter Jacqui Felgate on the bizarre incident that took place on Swan St in inner-city Melbourne’s Richmond.
She was late for a hair appointment and parked right in front of the salon at 12:01 p.m.
Taylor went to the machine to get the code for the PayStay parking app.
She was entering the code as she walked into the salon.
She couldn’t believe her eyes when she came outside two minutes later and saw a parking ticket on her car window.
The expectant mother described the parking attendant’s actions as ‘crappy’ and opportunistic behavior (stock image)
Angered by Taylor’s story, Felgate asked if she thought the parking inspector would have noticed if Taylor was pregnant.
“I’m nine months pregnant, there’s quite a lot of rolling and toddling out of the car these days,” she said.
Felgate added: “There should also be a five-minute leeway for this sort of thing.”
Taylor was shocked when he was booked and described the parking attendant’s actions as ‘crappy’ and opportunistic behaviour.
“It will take a few minutes for them to enter all your information into the machine,” she said.
She hopes the fine will be overturned because she took photos of the parking meter when she received the code.
“I’m fortunate that I have a lot of evidence, so I’m confident I’ll get out,” Taylor said.
‘It’s more about the fact that he saw me get out of the car, walk to the machine, write down the number and then walk into the hairdresser. He must have seen it.’
Felgate described the incident as a joke.
“When it comes to a cost of living crisis, you’re about to have a baby, you just want to get your hair done before giving birth and you basically buy the ticket and they don’t even give you the time.” to set it up in the machine,” she said.
Yarra City Councilor Stephen Jolly has since informed the council of Taylor’s ‘outrageous’ fine and requested a review of the case.
He added that the case is not an isolated incident.
“I’m getting a lot more calls from Yarra City residents saying they’re getting a more ruthless attitude from parking inspectors,” Cr Jolly told Felgate.
‘I think they are under a lot more pressure to bring in more money. It’s as if the municipalities are almost at war with the drivers.
“I’ve been on the council for 20 years, but I’ve never called so many people about similar issues.”
Felgate posted Taylor’s story to her Instagram account and the responses were brutal.
“Parking inspectors are a special breed of unlikable people,” one user wrote.
‘A parking inspector did this to me once and then said he was going to fine me for aggressive behaviour. A lawyer walked by and told him he apologized to me,” wrote another.
Taylor is confident her parking ticket will be overturned (stock image)