Council's parking fine refund scheme is now open.
The scheme has been developed following discovery of a historical administrative error that meant Council over-charged on 11 types of parking infringements.
Eligible motorists can apply for refunds on the overcharged portion of fines issued prior to 22 September 2026.
Refunds will generally be between $30 and $60 depending on the year of issue.
The refund scheme is open for 12 months, closing on 30 September 2027.
Community members can visit our webpage to search by vehicle registration number to see if they are eligible for a refund and apply via an online form.
Surf Coast Shire is one of a number of Victorian councils impacted by this issue and the refund scheme has been modelled on those implemented by other impacted councils.
CEO Robyn Seymour apologised for the error and said Council was doing what it could to rectify the situation.
"We aim to repay as many people as we can with the overcharged portion of their fine, so we urge anyone who thinks they may be eligible for a refund to visit our website," Ms Seymour said.
"The process has been designed to be as simple as we can make it.
"Anyone having trouble with the online system can contact our team and work through options to arrange your refund."
Council will aim to assess refund applications within 30 days, and process refunds for approved claims within a further 30 days.
Why the refund scheme is being introduced
The Road Safety Act 1986 enables Councils to set the penalty for 11 'green sign' parking offences up to a maximum of 0.5 penalty units, and many councils do this.
But a specific Council resolution is required to set the parking penalty units. Without this, a default rate of 0.2 penalty units applies.
Council has recently confirmed that, due to the historical error, the 0.5 penalty unit rate had been applied to the 11 infringement types over time without evidence of there being a specific resolution of Council to do so.
Council records for parking fines go back to 1 July 2003, but anyone who can show that they received an eligible fine prior to that date is invited to contact Council to discuss a refund.
Council made the necessary resolution to set the penalty at 0.5 units during its 22 September 2026 meeting, meaning fines issued since that date are not eligible for the refund scheme.
Impacted infringements
The impacted infringements are:
- Stopped contrary to a 'no parking' sign
- Parked for a period longer than indicated
- Failure to pay parking fee and obey instructions on sign/meter/ticket/ticket vending machine
- Stopped on a bicycle parking area
- Stopped on a motorbike parking area
- Parked contrary to requirement of parking area
- Parked – fail to comply with angle parking requirements
- Parked – fail to comply with 90 degree angle parking requirements
- Parked not completely within a parking bay
- Parked – long vehicle exceeding minimum number of bays
- Parked – wide vehicle exceeding minimum number of bays
As well as the online application form, the parking fine refund scheme webpage
