By Jaidyn Kennedy
An accidental change to the time limit of a parking bay near the Baden Powell Derrimut Heath campus in Hoppers Crossing has led to fines and community confusion.
Cheryl Eaton, who uses the parking bay on Fernwood Drive for school pick up and drop offs, said that she only became aware of the change when she received a fine of $198 in the mail.
Receiving a fine dated from February 20 on March 2, Ms Eaton, who had been dropping off her child at the location for three years, said her partner went straight to Fernwood Drive to discover the signs had changed.
Ms Eaton initially thought the parking zone change from ‘five minutes’ to ‘no-standing’ was a “sneaky” way to make money.
“All these years we’ve been happy with the no parking signs during school hours that lets you drop the kids off,” Ms Eaton said.
“To us, it looked like a money grab.”
She said she couldn’t see the reason behind it and that it didn’t make sense as adjacent Sycamore Street was also a no-standing zone.
Upon contacting the school’s principal, she learned that the school itself had not been made aware of the change in parking status on Fernwood Drive.
What had actually happened was not a deliberate decision to change the status of the parking bay, but a maintenance mistake late last year.
A Wyndham City spokesperson said that in December 2024, maintenance crews were replacing faded road signage in the area mistakenly replaced No Parking signs with No Stopping signs
The spokesperson said that “crews replaced the signage to its original No Parking today (Friday, March 7).”
“Two infringements were issued during this period, which will be withdrawn.”
Ms Eaton said she had already submitted her fine for review and that no standing signs in the area only cause more traffic problems.
