Illegally parked and unmanaged vehicles
Learn about illegal parking and the penalties for ignoring parking rules. Report an illegally parked or unmanaged vehicle.
What is illegal parking?
An illegally parked vehicle is any vehicle parked outside of the street parking rules.
Illegal parking includes:
- disobeying parking signs and road markings, including parking on a yellow line
- stopping or parking too close to an intersection or crossing
- parking across footpaths, medians, kerb ramps and nature strips
- parking with less than 3 metres of space between the vehicle and parked vehicles, dividing strips, traffic islands or unbroken dividing lines
- blocking part or all of an entrance to a public space or private property.
To report an illegally parked vehicle, phone Council on 07 3403 8888.
Penalties for illegal parking
If you park illegally, you may receive a fine or have your vehicle towed.
Parking fines
You can be fined for disobeying parking rules and signs.
You have 28 days from the issue date to pay your fine.
Learn more about parking tickets and fines.
Towed vehicles
Council or the Queensland Police Service may have your vehicle towed if it’s parked:
- in a clearway or ‘No Stopping’ zone
- across a driveway.
If your vehicle has been towed, you’ll need to pay a release fee to the tow company. You may also have a parking fine registered against your vehicle.
What is an ‘unmanaged’ vehicle?
An unmanaged vehicle is any vehicle left on a road or road-related area, such as a footpath, dividing strip or bike path, and is considered unmanaged if it’s:
- left in a hazardous location
- unsightly, dilapidated or dangerous to the public (e.g. wheels are missing or the vehicle has been vandalised)
- not registered
- abandoned.
Contact the vehicle owner
If you know who’s responsible for an abandoned vehicle, you can download and use our letter template to give them a chance to avoid Council intervention.
Report an illegally parked or unmanaged vehicle
Report an illegally parked vehicle
To report an illegally parked vehicle, phone Council on 07 3403 8888.
Report an unmanaged vehicle
If you suspect a vehicle is unmanaged, you can report it online.
You’ll need to supply the vehicle’s:
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location
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registration plate number (if it has one) or VIN number (if visible)
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any other relevant information, such as the vehicle’s colour or make.
To fast-track your report, you can also:
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carry out a free vehicle registration search (if the vehicle is registered)
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upload photos of the vehicle showing where it’s parked.
Frequently asked questions
A vehicle is considered hazardous if it is causing, or likely to cause, a danger, hindrance or obstruction to traffic or is preventing the use of a road or footway.
Examples of a hazardous vehicle include (but are not limited to) a:
- parked vehicle fully obstructing a footway forcing pedestrians to walk on the road to get past
- vehicle that has been in an accident and appears undriveable
- vehicle with sharp pieces of metal or glass sticking out.
A legally parked vehicle or a vehicle parked for a long period of time is not considered a safety hazard and should not be reported as a hazardous vehicle.
To report a vehicle posing a safety hazard, phone Council on 07 3403 8888.
An abandoned vehicle is a vehicle that:
- has been left for more than 24 hours in a parking bay (e.g. metered spaces) where the time for a vehicle to remain parked is limited
- is parked for more than seven days in a parking bay where the time a vehicle may remain parked is not limited (e.g. a line marked bay with no limit)
- is unregistered.
Council may also consider a vehicle as abandoned where it has been left parked for 14 days and have no licence plates/ VIN visible and ownership cannot be identified.
If a parked car is in a position that is over the driveway (including the fantail) and preventing access to your driveway, this is deemed illegal parking. Phone Council on 07 3403 8888 to report it.
Under the Health, Safety and Amenity Local Law 2017 it is an offence to park an unregistered vehicle on a road. The owner or last known registered owner may be fined.
If you want to get rid of an old, unwanted car, you can contact a:
- scrap car removalist
- private tow truck operator
- second-hand car dealership
- scrap metal recycling business.
These businesses may buy your unwanted car or offer free and low-cost removal services.