Parking Fines Refund Scheme

02 Jul 2025

Merri-bek City Council has launched the Parking Fines Refund Scheme for motorists who received parking fines between 1 July 2013 and 11 June 2025 for 11 minor types of infringements.

This scheme will be available for 12 months. It will allow eligible motorists, who were overcharged for 11 minor types of parking infringements due to a historical administrative error, to apply for a refund of the overcharged amount.

To check your eligibility and apply for the partial refund, please click on the ‘Check eligibility’ button below. We’ve made this process as quick and easy as possible for eligible motorists to apply for a refund.

Check eligibility

For more information, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions below.

  • To be eligible for a refund you must have paid a parking fine issued by Merri-bek (formerly Moreland) City Council between 1 July 2013 and 11 June 2025 for one of the following offences: 

    • Parked for period longer than indicated (Offence code 0701) 
    • Parked fail to pay and obey instructions on sign (Offence code 0702) 
    • Stopped contrary to a No Parking sign (Offence code 0621) 
    • Parked not completely within a parking bay (Offence code 0711) 
    • Stopped on a bicycle parking area (Offence code 0704) 
    • Stopped on a motor bike parking area (Offence code 0705) 
    • Parked contrary to requirement of parking area (Offence code 0706) 
    • Parked not at an angle of 45 degrees (Offence code 0707) 
    • Parked not at an angle of 90 degrees (Offence code 0708) 
    • Parked long vehicle exceed minimum number of bays (Offence code 0712) 
    • Parked wide vehicle exceed minimum number of bays (Offence code 0713) 

    Parking fines issued for any other offences such as parking in a Loading Zone or Clearway had the correct fine applied and are not part of the Parking Fines Refund Scheme.   

    Fines issued from 12 June 2025 do not form part of the refund scheme as the error was fixed on 11 June 2025.

  • Where a motorist who has parked their vehicle fails to comply with parking requirements, they are in breach of the parking conditions and risk receiving a parking infringement. 

    The infringements issued during this period are valid and will stand. The amount charged for those infringements was allowed for by the Road Safety Act 1986.

    But the correct authorising resolution was not in place for the 11 types of infringements. To correct this error, Council will issue a partial refund for eligible motorists, with an interest component applied.

  • If you have multiple infringements in a calendar year, all you need to do is provide evidence of vehicle ownership or usage covering the period you owned or used the vehicle in that year.  

    We will process partial refunds for all eligible fines from offences in that year, or for the duration of the year covered by the evidence you provide.

  • You will need to provide at least one document relating to one of these two options:

    • Using an infringement number: You will need to provide documentation that contains the infringement number.
    • Using a vehicle registration: You will need to provide documentation that shows you owned or used the vehicle around the time of the offence.

    There are more details about the document requirements once you click the Check Eligibility button.

  • Refunds will be made by electronic transfer to a BSB and bank account number.

  • The Road Safety Act 1986 enables Councils to increase the penalty for 11 minor (lower-level) parking offences up to a maximum 0.5 penalty unit, and many councils do this.  But a specific Council resolution is required to increase the parking penalty units; without this, councils can only apply a 0.2 penalty unit. 

    Due to an administrative error, made 12 years ago, Merri-bek City Council has applied the maximum 0.5 penalty unit to the 11 lower-level parking infringement types without a specific Council resolution to do so. At the time when the error was made, Council officers were of the belief the fees were set as statutory fees which didn't need any further ratification from Council.

    More information about the penalty units error can be found on the Council to launch Parking Fines Refund Scheme webpage.

Parking Fine Refund Scheme in your language

If you require accessibility or language support, please contact our team managing the Parking Fines Refund Scheme by calling 9058 6694.

More information about the penalty units error can be found on the, Council to launch Parking Fines Refund Scheme webpage.