Geraldton WA Visitors Be Warned.

I just spent 30 minutes going around the car parks for Woolworths and other supermarkets etc in Geraldton with google Maps street view and I am sorry to say that the signs were quite hard to miss. Costly lesson my friend.

Phil

PS The date on Google Maps was June 2015.

Was like that in 2009 when we were there. Plenty of signs so no excuse The area of the park we were in had a faulty terminal so had to find another one. A local said they dont take that as an excuse either as it says to do that on the terminal.
If I remember rightly it was not a "Woolworths " exclusive park but a Shopping centre park which just happens to be closest to Woolworths and so they get blamed unfairly

It is actually the Stirling shopping Mall carpark

Yet another reason to not shop at Woolworths. Very expensive on more ways than one!

Vote with your feet.

There is free parking next to Stirling Shopping Centre, and only 50 meters away Queens IGA with a massive free parking area.
While I hate to pay for the parking there and so rarely use Woolies, as said if you could miss those signs, you would also miss give way, stop, and speed signs!
Queens IGA (50 meters), Durlacher IGA (400 meters away), Coles (1km away) all have free parking.
If you could even pay for your stuff in there within 10 minutes though your doing well

The car park accross the road from Woolies is Council controlled and therefore nothing to do with the shopping centre or it,s tennants plus it,s pretty well sign posted with a machine right at the lights. The centre,s free car park is next door to the building with good access into the shops.

I have not seen these pay for parking shoppers car parks in Geraldton, but do not find it unusual. Probably over twenty years ago when shopping in the Bunbury CBD the council car parks were all pay parking. In some towns in our travels, even street parking is pay parking (eg Devonport in Tasmania).

Now at the shopping centre in central Bunbury, car parking, including in the adjacent under cover car park is free for two hours, but you still have to display a ticket. Much better.

The Adelaide city council , like many others practicaly abolished free parking years ago , then kept increasing the prices to a point that now if you don't have to go to the CBD you don't !. Now they are crying about lack of people/shoppers coming to town and have proposed parking happy hours/days to lure business back , to late fella's you've burnt me and theres better options !.

I'm not exactly a young fella any more at 58, but I've been paying for parking for virtually all the 41 years I've been driving. I just don't get the point of this post. Yes, we get charged for parking. We also get charged for fuel and for all sorts of things. Deal with it, move on.

The Woolworths Supermarket car park here in Orange has a 2 hour limit, City Council inspectors will put a ticket on if you over stay the 2 hours.

.

Now this raises an interesting point ...... If this is a privately owned carpark ..... it must be noted that private individuals and companies are not legally entitled to levy fines and penalties in Australia, though many will sucessfully try it on.

It is covered by a federal act .... cant remember the name off the top of my head, but it is the xxxx sundry xxxx act, that covers the conduct of many business and government matters.

There is an argument that Local councils are not entitled to levy fines on the basis that they are not recognised as government in the constitution and are in fact private corporations ( or like) ...... but that is a more obtuse argument.

The above does not represent legal advice.

cheers

quite a few shopping centres in WA do this your typically allowed 2 hrs maximum after this you must pay but you still have to obtain a ticket from vending machine.

Victoria park centro is another one I am aware of that has this policy

you probably didn't realise you had to get the ticket otherwise you be ok, ALL public hospitals in perth metro if you don't purchase a ticket its a $2000 fine defaulted to $250ish if you pay up front within 14 days of fine being presented

I am concerned that so many people accept being treated so poorly by so called "authorities". Parking fees are collected to pay for the land and bitumen etc. Parking fines are imposed to discourage people from freeloading. "Authorities" quickly twigged to the fact that fines are a far greater source of revenue than the fees they collect. With no oversight fines can be set at any level and are usually way out of proportion to the magnitude of the "offence". A $76 fine for not paying $1 parking fee? The "authorities" have turned into robber barons and inflict more pain on ordinary citizens than recognised criminals. And before the anal retentives come out and say "if you don't break the rules you don't have a problem" the OP is a perfect example of a person caught out through unfamiliarity with ways of the west. No harm was intended, and they weren't trying to 'save a buck', but cop a fine that would knock a large hole in most people's day. A $30 fine would be fair.
Wake up people, stop councils, state governments, banks etc shafting you. Stop defending their unconscionable, greedy actions.
Bob

I got caught in a similar situation in Melbourne a couple of years back ?????

The OP might want to study up on the information on the site below.

Private car park fines

These car park owners are straight-out rorters, pure and simple. Make their "fine" collection as difficult as possible.

You may be in breach of contract by not paying for your time in the car park, but the contract conditions must be made clear to you upon entry to the car park.

Incidentally, I am very careful of where I park nowadays.

After having been savaged more than once, by the best of the best, as far as vicious councils go (Perth City Council and Subiaco City Council) I am "once-burnt, twice shy".

My best efforts were $100 for parking in a loading zone in the CBD on late Sat afternoon, for all of 5 mins (the vultures were waiting in hiding) - and $50 (quite a few years ago), for parking on the verge at the Perth Royal Show.

Seen people regularly done for $200 for parking in a Clearway after 4:00PM. Not seeing/reading the parking signage, is no excuse.

Cheers, Ron.