Understanding the changes to “Ticketless” parking fines
Have you recently been fined for a parking offence without a physical notice?
You’re not alone.
Parking fines, particularly those that incur demerit points, have been a source of worry for Australians at risk of a demerit point licence suspension.
Each year, the New South Wales Government collects millions of dollars of revenue from “ticketless” parking fines. This has left some Australians with thousands of dollars worth of fines that have accumulated without immediate notification.
From 1 July 2025, certain parking offences require a penalty notice to be attached to the offending vehicle in order to be valid. This follows the commencement of the Fines Amendment (Parking Fines) Act 2024 (NSW) (‘The Act’).
Please note that a penalty notice may still be valid, even where it does not comply with these provisions, although, not where there is a significant failure to comply.
Physical notification now required to be attached to the offending vehicle
Section 24AC of The Act prescribes that a designated person for a fine issuing agency who issues or proposes to issue a penalty notice for a parking offence must attach a notification to the vehicle.
This does not apply to penalty notices in respect of parking fines issued by Police Officers.
These notifications may be the penalty notice itself or another notice which describes the offence and that a penalty notice will be issued.
For this notice to be valid, no more than 1 penalty notice is to be issued within 7 days where that notice involves same vehicle, offence and area.
Images must be taken of the notification attached to the vehicle
Under section 24AF, the issuer of the penalty notice for a parking offence involving a vehicle must comply with the following (unless not required under the regulations);
- take images of the parking offence
- where a notification is required, take images that that it was attached to the vehicle, and
- where a notification is not required, show why the notification is not required to be attached to the vehicle, and
- give copies of the images to a designated person at the fine issuing agency
Circumstances where it is not necessary for a notification to be attached
Section 24AC(1) prescribes that a notification is not necessary in the following circumstances;
- It is not safe to attach the notification, or
- the vehicle is in a prescribed parking zone (as identified by a sign complying with the respective regulations), or
- the vehicle is not stationary, or
- the regulations provide that it is not necessary to attach the notification
However, any Officer who relies on an exception under this section must record the reasons why the exception applied and provide a copy to the fine issuing agency.
The penalty notice must be issued with 7 days if notification is not attached
The first penalty notice for a parking offence will also be invalid where issued later than 7 days after the offence is committed.
This applies, for example, when a penalty notice is issued to the registered operator of a vehicle who then nominates another person as the driver which requires a second penalty notice to be issued.
What happens if a notification is not attached to my vehicle and/or images are not taken in accordance with the law?
While a failure to attach a notification to an offending vehicle or take images of this notification does not affect the validity of the penalty notice, this may be taken into consideration for the purposes of an internal review.
The penalty notice, despite the above, will be invalid where there was a significant failure to comply with this legislation.
Undertaking this internal review
The internal review of penalty notices under Part 3, Division 2A of The Act can be a complicated administrative process.
We remind you to stay on top of your demerit points by checking your licence on the Service NSW app.
We encourage you to contact Brady and Associates Lawyers on (02) 9545 3273 if you require information or advice on this process.
This article provides general information and should not be considered legal advice.
