Thousands of motorists will get their parking fines refunding after a council was found to have overcharged millions of dollars in penalties for more than a decade.

Merri-Bek Council, which covers Melbourne’s inner-north, said it had overcharged motorists between $43 to $59 for 11 types of infringements between July 1, 2013, and June 11, 2025.

About 250,000 fines were charged incorrectly, with the council reaping in $12 million over 12 years, the council confirmed.

The default penalty that councils charge for the 11 parking infringements is 0.2 penalty points. They can charge 0.5 penalty points only if a resolution is passed at a council meeting to approve it.

But Merri-Bek had charged the higher penalty-point rate despite no resolution being passed.

It maintains the parking infringements issued to motorists since July 2013 are valid.

The refund scheme will go live in early July and will be available for 12 months. Eligible motorists will be able to opt in to recoup the overcharged portion of their fine.

Council chief executive Cathy Henderson said parking was a limited resource and all revenue raised from parking fines went to providing services and facilities.

“This is a regrettable historical administrative error, and we apologise for the impact of the overcharge,” she said.

Victorian Ratepayers and Residents Association secretary Tanya Tescher said it was not the first time a council had made a mistake, but it was not a good look for it to go on for 12 years.

She said it was likely Merri-Bek would not need to pay the entire $12 million owed since it depended on how widely the opt-in refund scheme was publicised.

If the council did not know how much it would have to refund, it would have to adjust its spending, and ratepayers were going to to end up paying in the long run, Tescher said.

“One way or another, the shortfall is going to have to be made up, either there are going to be fewer services offered or the rates have got to be increased,” she said.

Affected infringements

• Parked for period longer than indicated
• Parked fail to pay and obey instructions on sign
• Stopped contrary to a no-parking sign
• Stopped on a bicycle parking area
• Stopped on a motorbike parking area
• Parked contrary to requirement of parking area
• Parked not at an angle of 45 degrees
• Parked not at an angle of 90 degrees
• Parked not completely within a parking bay
• Parked long vehicle exceed minimum number of bays
• Parked wide vehicle exceed minimum number of bays

-AAP