A South Australian woman has emerged victorious after a four-year legal battle with her local council over a $104 parking fine, but the fight cost her more than $50,000 in legal fees. The woman, identified in court documents as Ms Mathie, was fined in 2021 for allegedly double parking her silver Hyundai sedan outside a private school in Adelaide's north.
Ms Mathie argued she was not parked but stuck in a stationary line of traffic on Boucaut Ave in Blakeview. The Elizabeth Magistrates Court initially rejected her defense, with a magistrate noting that photos of her car were taken two minutes apart in the same spot, describing it as an 'exceedingly long time for a car to be stuck in traffic' during the 2023 trial.
Ms Mathie appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled in her favor and sent the case back to the Magistrates' Court for a retrial. However, the Playford Council decided to drop the charges. Last month, the Court of Appeal ordered the council to pay 20 percent of Ms Mathie's $52,896 legal bill, amounting to $10,580.
Ms Mathie's lawyer, Karen Stanley, told ABC Radio Adelaide that the Supreme Court allowed the appeal based on a technical argument and the strength of her client's original defense. 'She said I would have been breaking other road rules by driving onto the wrong side of the road if I was to try and get out of that line of traffic, and the Court of Appeals said 'Yeah, you're right',' Stanley said.
In a statement, Playford Council said they aimed to 'preserve the integrity of the expiation process,' noting that the case was 'not about a single expiation, but a fundamental point of law with far-reaching implications for South Australia's entire expiation system.'
