Victoria drivers were for the most part diligent in paying their parking fees in 2018, but nearly 40,000 of them only just escaped paying parking fines.
A total of 39,011 parking tickets were cancelled last year, a 15 per cent increase compared to 2017.
The most popular reason for ticket cancellation was from owners returning to their vehicles right as a ticket was being written – 11,200 people caught the parking ambassador mid-task, and were able to avoid a $40 fine.
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The next biggest category for ticket cancellations was for “education/courtesy” purposes. Situations in which circumstances were unclear, or if the driver had not received tickets before could allow them to have their tickets waived for educational purposes.
Just over 3,500 ticketed cars were from out of province, while another 3,341 paid for the wrong parking space.
A total 766 residents were wrongly-ticketed, as were 1,356 guests to residents.
Some people waited to the last minute to refresh their parking space payments, with 1,140 people getting their tickets waived with proof of payment near the time they were fined.
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Over 4,000 people received warning tickets, a jump form 2,600 in 2017.
Over 5,100 people also had their tickets retracted for other reasons, including holding a valid permit, visiting as a tourist, or parking ambassadors making ticket mistakes.
In total, if all of these tickets had been paid in full (averaging out to $40), the total revenue would have been over $1.5 million