PARKING Generally, parking and parking laws are regulated by local government authorities. Local governments, such as the Brisbane City Council, or the Cairns City Council, are able to regulate the following aspects of parking: the times when a vehicle may or must not be parked in a specific area; fees required to be paid, if any, for a vehicle to be parked in a specific area; types of vehicles that may or must not be parked in a specific area; the purposes for which a vehicle may or must not be parked in a specific area. An integral part of the regulation of parking involves the erection of official parking signs. Parking signs may apply to parking at or near the place where the sign is installed, or for a larger area such as a central business district. If a person contravenes a parking law, then they may be fined. The maximum fine that a local government authority can impose in relation to a parking offence is $3,000.00. However, parking fines are generally far less than this. An important point to know is that the owner of the vehicle that is involved in the parking offence is deemed to have committed that parking offence, (even if he/she was not the person in control of the car at that time) and may be punished accordingly. If a person is charged with a parking offence, they will be issued with an infringement notice. It is acceptable for the infringement notice to be left on a conspicuous area of the vehicle, such as on the windscreen of the vehicle. Parking offences are ticketable offences.

...a $40 police infringement notice. He wasn't parked illegally and his registration was up-to-date, so he was understandably confused. Then he read the notice and found he had been nicked for failing to lock his car - with the police office scribbling “all four doors unlocked - photo taken”. And yes, it's true. Under Queensland law anyone who is more than three metres from their empty vehicle and leaves it unlocked, can suffer the same fate.