Yesterday I got a parking ticket, in the mail. First of all, it arrived one week after it was issued, so the time I have to pay or contest has been reduced.

But what I’m most peeved about is the cost, and the reason.

$197 for ‘Stop within 10 metres of an intersection without traffic lights’.

TEN METRES! 10 metres, I’ll have you know, is about two car spaces.

I understand you cannot park right up next to an intersection because that would be plain stupid and dangerous. But about a car space back, makes sense. And, Liverpool Council, if you’re going to have this silly rule, put some street signs up to let us know.

Everyone around the office has a different idea of what this rule is. Some say six metres, others nine, and a few of us, myself included, think a car space away from the corner is a fair gap.

And, as with most of my rants, everyone has their own version, and story to go with it, of being booked for a stupid offence.

Some councils, like Waverley council, donate much of their fines to charity. And they let you know about it, so you don’t feel so rotten about paying it.

But it seems Liverpool council can’t put some money towards painting white lines on the road to indicate parking spaces, and certainly not money to put signs up to let us know where we can’t park.

I’m sure the money from fines and rates and all the other money we pay goes somewhere, and supposedly somewhere useful, but maybe they should let us know a little more about it.

I bet most of the revenue they make from parking fines just goes into paying the wages for the officers who dish out the fines. Pointless cycle, anyone?

I’d hate to be a parking cop. They reckon journalists are some of the most disliked people in society. Well, I have news for ‘they’: parking officers are at the top of my list for pointless people, who really do not contribute at all to society.

I’ve heard of people putting paddle pop sticks in the coin slots of parking metres and taking photos so they have something to argue about when they get a ticket.