A Fire and Rescue worker has been issued with a $257 fine for parking in a no-stopping zone while rescuing a man.
The ticket was issued on November 27 last year and Luke Crum, a firefighter in Young, NSW, has challenged the council as to why the fine should stand.
"I was at a rescue on the railway corridor up behind Anytime Fitness, a young man working for RFS state mitigation was brush cutting with his team and fell from the top of the railway tracks," he said.
"He fell down an almost vertical bank and hit rocks on the way down and had suspected neck and spinal injuries, it was a 40-degree day so we had to move him quickly with the paramedics and it was tricky due to where he was, the ambulance couldn't get close to him, so we had to carry him out.
"I was issued with a $257 fine and it was for disobeying a no stopping sign at the Lynch Street Fire Sation. The nose of my car was in the fire rescue parking zone because when we are at a fire call that we've been called to as an emergency, we nose into the gutter so that it’s a quicker response time."
Mr Crum said his car has a very large sticker on the front windscreen that clearly shows he is a firefighter.
"I shouldn't have to pay because I was rescuing someone, I was doing my community a service, and this is pretty poor form from the council," he said.
In a letter to Mr Crum Hilltops Council General Manager Anthony McMahon said "sufficient evidence" exists to justify Hilltops Council proceeding with the fine.
"While I empathise with the fact that you had difficulties in locating suitable parking, it does not negate the fact that an offence had been committed," Mr McMahon said.
I shouldn't have to pay because I was rescuing someone, I was doing my community a service, and this is pretty poor form from the council.
- Luke Crum
"All drivers regardless of their position or roles within the local community must comply with the Australian Road Rules and whilst I can understand your frustration, council is required to enforce these rules."