Pay-up parking sign just mix-up Author: By MEGAN LEVY Date: 14/09/2006 Publication: Illawarra Mercury
MOTORISTS hoped it wasn't a sign of things to come.
When a "paid parking" sign popped up on the Wollongong beach front yesterday, motorists were left scratching their heads.
Had the great debate about parking in the city finally been settled, in favour of the dreaded parking meter?
But it seems a group of road contractors had unknowingly made the decision Wollongong City Council had been grappling with for months.
The workers had mistakenly erected a sign on the corner of Marine Dr and Crown St, warning motorists they would have to purchase a ticket to park there for two hours.
One motorist was quick to phone the Mercury to lament the lost days of free parking.
But a call to Wollongong City Council's traffic gurus put paid to the mix-up.
"They have put the wrong signs up. They will be coming down shortly," a council spokesperson said.
"That's not paid parking down there at all. It's restricted parking (of two hours), and extra big signs were meant to be put up to make it absolutely clear to residents and visitors that it's restricted parking."
In the end, the red-faced contractors were told to pull their sign down, paying the price for their blunder.