Drivers were convinced this homemade-looking ‘parking ticket’ left on cars was fake – now cops have settled the question of whether it’s real or not
A driver who discovered what he thought was a fake parking ticket slipped under the windscreen of his car was shocked to learn the fine was real.
The motorist discovered the dodgy tag placed on his car parked at Richlands train station in Brisbane’s south-west on Tuesday.
He uploaded a photo to Reddit later that day with the caption that the ticket did not look legitimate.
‘Scare tactics or are the police really handing out parking tickets in the Richlands train station car park?’ He wrote.
“It looks fake and even looks like an ink printer has been used.”
A driver was shocked to learn that what he thought was a fake parking ticket (pictured) was actually a real fine
The fine form said ‘QLD POLICE PARKING TICKET’.
“An (infringement notice) has been issued for this vehicle and is being sent by post to the registered owner.”
A Queensland Police logo was printed on the right side of the ticket.
The driver, who did not want to be named, told Daily Mail Australia he suspected the fine could be counterfeit as very limited information was printed on the front of the ticket.
“(It) didn’t have an incident number or anything to make them look authorized,” he said.
‘I looked at it and I thought ‘this must be fake’… I actually got the thing (card) a little wet and let it run and it (the ink) looked like (it was printed by) an ink jet printer’.
He discovered that the parking fine was not counterfeit after he posted the photo of the ticket online.
‘Unfortunately not fake. These are used when the police issue a ticket from their iPad. The ticket will be printed and sent to the registered owner by post,” said a user.
‘This happened to me once, years ago. I received a parking ticket, but it was sent to an old address. I had no idea and went on with my life,” another user wrote.
Others said the card looked like it was printed in bulk, even though it didn’t appear to be fake.
The motorist discovered the ticket after parking at Richlands train station in south-west Brisbane
“It seems real to me, not in an official way.”
The driver, who was using his partner’s car at the time, said he was fined for parking in the wrong place in the train station car park.
He parked the car in an area of the parking garage close to where vehicles enter the parking lot, as all the parking spaces were full.
He didn’t mind parking the car in the area as dozens of motorists left their vehicles in the empty spaces.
However, drivers are not allowed to park their vehicles in these spots as this may hinder incoming cars from entering the parking garage.
The man, who moved to Richland just two months ago, said he wasn’t the only one fined.
‘Every day when I go to the station and see everyone else parking there, I go ‘it just has to be a gentlemen’s agreement’.
“It wasn’t my fault, but everyone parked there that day got it.”
A Queensland Police spokesperson told Daily Mail the fines are real and will be handed out by officers to motorists who commit a parking offence.
The driver parked his partner’s car in an area (marked in red) towards the entrance of the parking lot, as all parking spaces were occupied
“These are legitimate parking tickets left by Queensland Police on unattended vehicles,” the spokesperson said.
“While the violation notice is sent to the address of the person to whom the vehicle is registered, the paper notice is placed on the windshield to inform the driver that he has committed an violation while away from the vehicle.”
The driver admitted that he should not have parked in the car park and said he now has to ask his partner to transfer the fine to him so he can make the payment.
“I have now resorted to walking to the train station, I am not going to take the risk,” he said.