Driver reveals sneaky trick to dodge parking fines

The Melbourne man claimed placing an old parking ticket on your car would deter inspectors from issuing more. Photo / @omar_sbai / TikTok

A Melbourne man has shared the sneaky trick he claims allows him to park for free across the city without being hit with any parking tickets.

TikTok user @omar_sbai revealed the parking hack in a video, telling his followers all they needed was an old parking fine.

He filmed himself placing the old parking ticket on his windscreen, claiming it would deter parking inspectors from issuing another fine.

"I'm going to show you guys a little trick. So I got this ticket about a month ago and I've been using the same one every single day since, and guess what, I haven't gotten a ticket again," he said.

The video was posted two days ago and has since been viewed more than 400,000 times.

One viewer backed up the Melbourne man's claims, saying they had also successfully used this trick to avoid a fine.

"Can confirm it works. Also get someone else's ticket and put it on your car," they wrote.

Another person also confirmed they had done this before, but claimed it only worked after a certain time in the day.

"I've done this. It only works after 11am as they have different peeps cycle around, don't use it in the AM as they know they (are) the first ones there," they wrote.

The Melbourne man claimed placing an old parking ticket on your car would deter inspectors from issuing more. Photo / @omar_sbai / TikTok

But others weren't as easily convinced, with many viewers saying they had tried this hack only to cop even more fines as a result.

"I did this and got another one," one person said.

"Doesn't work all the time bro. I came back to find 2 fines on my windshield one day," another wrote.

One added: "I've actually tried this a few years back and they put a new ticket directly on top of the old one I had on my windshield."

Last year, three Melbourne council's were told they would have to refund almost $20 million in parking fines after they were found to be unlawfully issued.

Glen Eira, Port Phillip and Stonnington councils were ordered to refund more than 200,000 fines after the Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass found they acted "contrary to law" when they outsourced the review of their parking fines to a private contractor between 2006 and 2016.

"The legal issues have not been tested in court, so I cannot definitely determine the lawfulness of the councils' actions," Ms Glass said at the time.

"But I can express my opinion, which is that the three councils acted contrary to law."

The councils, which take in popular areas including St Kilda and the Chapel Street shopping precinct, disagreed with the Ombudsman's findings but agreed to pay back the money anyway.