<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>Opinion: </span></strong><span>A golden rule of parenting - and training dogs for that matter - is to make sure you enforce a punishment as close as possible to when the naughty deed was done. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The thinking is that it's not as effective giving little Johnny or Joanne or Fido a talking to, days or weeks after they didn't pack up their Lego or chewed your favourite shoes. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>So it was always a bizarre decision by the NSW government to allow parking tickets to be issued to motorists, weeks after the offence was committed. </span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/ticketless-parking-fines-outlawed-from-today/e59a262c-bc77-4689-a575-43d08e353ef8" rel="" target="" title="Ticketless parking fines outlawed from today"><strong><span>Ticketless parking fines outlawed from today</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The controversial change came in five years ago, with little fanfare - until drivers started noticing what was going on. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Parking rangers were given the power to issue a parking fine, but not provide an on-the-spot ticket. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It led to the rude shock arriving in the mail, days and sometimes weeks later, which also limited the ability of drivers to challenge the fine. </span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/deborah-knight-good-riddance-to-ticketless-parking-fines/06a65bfd-39b8-48fd-849f-e550c84eabb8" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>If there was something obstructing a parking sign, or confusion over the legality of where a car was parked or for how long, there was not much a driver could do to gather evidence or provide proof to argue their case weeks later. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The process of challenging a parking fine is difficult enough as it is, without the added impediment of not even being told you've allegedly done something wrong until well after the incident was meant to have happened. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Unsurprisingly, the change also led to a sharp increase in the number of fines being issued and a fall in the number being challenged. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Great news for local government coffers - not so great for drivers being pinged with fines. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Admittedly, the vast majority of fines that are issued are justified and drivers are in the wrong. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But there are cases when the parking inspector gets it wrong. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Or a motorist has a legitimate reason or excuse for not doing what the parking sign required them to do. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Don't get me started on the confusing signs that have multiple instructions depending on the time of day and seem almost deliberately trying to trick motorists up. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Thankfully, common sense has now prevailed. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The NSW government has now wound back the ticketless parking and reinstated the old system that requires parking officers attach an actual ticket to a vehicle when issuing a fine. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The driver must also be notified no more than seven days after the offence is alleged to have occurred. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The NSW government says the new system would mean people will stop being "caught by a surprise parking ticket weeks later" and that "our commonsense changes bring fairness and transparency back to the system".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A change that has been a long time coming.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><span>Deb Knight is the host of Money News on the Nine Radio network. From July 21 she will be the 9News morning presenter on the national news at 11.30am and the 9News afternoon Sydney presenter at 4pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.</span></em></div></div>