Hunter motorists enjoyed a welcome respite from parking fines in April as councils cut down drastically on enforcement.
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The nine councils in the Hunter issued only 130 fines in total last month, down 95.6 per cent from the 2944 they dished out in April 2019.
City of Newcastle, which usually issues three quarters of the region's parking infringement notices, handed out only 53, down 97.6 per cent from 2210 a year earlier.
Lake Macquarie's parking inspectors were less lenient, writing 60 tickets in the month, which was 78.5 per cent fewer than the 279 they handed out in April 2019.
The drop in fines, and the revenue they generate for councils, coincided with a sharp drop in traffic at the height of the coronavirus epidemic.
In some areas, council rangers were redeployed into other work, and some councils took a more lenient approach to enforcing parking rules.
A City of Newcastle spokesperson said the council had taken a "softer approach to its parking operations since measures were introduced to contain the spread of COVID-19".
"Parking officers issued fines only when the infringement placed the safety of road users and the general public at risk," the spokesperson said.
Cessnock cut down from 95 to three in April, a 96.8 per cent drop year on year, and Maitland fines dropped from 81 to 10, or 87.7 per cent.
The biggest percentage fall of the five Lower Hunter councils was in Port Stephens, which handed out 263 fines last April and three this year, a fall of 98.9 per cent.
Dungog and Upper Hunter councils did not issue any parking fines across April in either year, Singleton cut down from three to none, and Muswellbrook fell from 13 to 1.
Across the state, Revenue NSW figures show parking officers wrote 75,000 fewer fines in April.
Councils across NSW issued $4.3 million in fines last month, down from $15.9 million in the corresponding month last year. The number of parking fines fell from 102,006 last April to 21,138.
The fines issued in NSW fell from 107,141 in February to 79,327 in March before plummeting again in April.
The reduced number of fines will cut Lower Hunter councils' combined revenue by several hundred thousand dollars.
In Newcastle, the council's budgeted parking fines income fell from $315,000 to $9500 for the month.
City of Newcastle made $8 million in revenue from parking meters and off-street parking stations last financial year and almost $4 million from parking fines.
In 2018, the council rejected a NSW government attempt to lower minimum fines from $110 to $80.
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