Petty admin is turning me into Mussolini...

Perhaps it would help if my time wasn't taken up with knocking out letters like the one below, which I present for your edification.

I know I have said in recent posts that it is important to be nice to shitkickers, but angry letters don't count. They give me a kick, and having worked at the receiving end, I am prepared to wager that they give the pen pushers at the other end a giggle too. I love a good psycho (at a safe distance)!


Dear City of Melbourne,

Re: “Infringement” no: 404858649

At 6.14pm this evening I pulled into a park on Lonsdale Street between Russell and Exhibition Streets, opposite the church. I read the meter – there were 12 minutes left on the meter, and metered parking finished at 6.30pm according to the sign. I put 50 cents in the meter which took me to 21 minutes on the metre. If you add 21 minutes to 6.14 you get 6.35pm, so I was covered for parking until 7.30pm.

I returned to my car at 7.19pm to find that one of your esteemed officers had issued a fine because, when he inspected the meter at 7.04pm (as it says on my ticket), the ‘meter had expired’. No shit! There’s no meter payment required at that time of the night. Perhaps this idiot should check the signs that are erected for his benefit as well as ours, which clearly state that metered parking FINISHES AT 6.30pm in that area, and from then on there is a 1 hour unmetered period (for me this was until at least 7.30pm) DURING WHICH I RETURNED TO MY CAR. Get a watch!

I am getting tired of parking officers who slap tickets on cars without actually checking their own rules, in the sly hope that people will simply accept the fine when it is not their fault or they have no proof one way or the other. In this case, a ticket placed on a car at 7.04pm for ‘failure to pay a fee’ when the FEE PAYING PERIOD EXPIRED AT 6.30pm clearly shows the issuer of the ticket to be a fool. I am thankful that I’m one of the lucky folk who can prove it – rock down to Lonsdale Street and check your signage. I know I did when I parked!

This is tiresome. I will not be paying this fine and I expect it to be withdrawn. Please let me know when this has been done.


Yours sincerely,


S.

PS: I've lodged an online complaint too - to ensure the message gets through and also to increase your administrative workload out of spite.