Bayside Council in Sydney is encouraging neighbours to dob on each other. Picture: Bayside Council
Neighbour wars in one Aussie council area are about to explode after the promotion of a new app urging people to dob each other in for hefty fines.
Bayside Council in Sydney’s Botany Bay recently updated its online reporting tool to add different categories for illegal parking.
The three categories include illegal parking on council roads, vehicles blocking driveways, and heavy vehicles parked illegally.
Fines for parking across driveways, the category set to ignite neighbour feuds across the local government area, carry fines exceeding $337.
“We have made it even easier to report illegal parking,” Bayside Council told its residents,
The council’s promotion of dobbing comes amid a national spike in usage of the Snap Send Solve app that allows frustrated Aussies to dob in their neighbours.
Off-street parking can be a huge issue for many neighbourhoods across the country, with limited spots adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to property values depending on the area.
Drivers who improperly park across footpaths or driveways, on private property or in disability zones could face hundreds of dollars in fines from cranky neighbours who report them to authorities.
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Australians have been ‘dobbing’ on other using the Snap, Send, Solve app. Picture: Supplied
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Snap Send Solve, an app designed to help identify and fix minor issues in the community, has been downloaded more than 1 million times by Aussies looking to improve their area.
While it the app’s usual usage surrounds local government hardware such as broken footpaths, busted bins or missing signs, users are increasingly taking to the app to report people for poor parking.
The app works by alerting relevant authorities, such as local councils, about problems such as blocked paths. It does not issue fines.
Snap Send Solve chief executive Danny Gorog told Yahoo News more than 120,000 people in NSW and Victoria dobbed in fellow residents using the app last year, and that reports of poor parking in some stats had surged by as much as 849 per cent.
“Illegal parking continues to be a growing frustration across Australia, with issues like blocked driveways, cars parked in no-standing zones, and vehicles overstaying time limits creating daily challenges,” he told Yahoo News.
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Australians have been ‘dobbing’ on other using the Snap, Send, Solve app. Picture: Supplied
“Many of us might be able to sidestep rubbish on the footpath, but that’s not so easy if you’re in a wheelchair or walking with a pram.”
The app’s Facebook page is loaded with comments from people frustrated by parking infringements.
Large vehicles were a regular source of annoyance.
App users were quick to deride “ride” drivers who don’t have “the right to block the foot path”.
Bad Parking spotted in Geelong.
More understanding folk said people were parking in the wrong place “because house blocks are smaller, streets are narrower (thank you developers), and freakin cars are bigger”.
“Cars are becoming bigger and wider,” another person said.
“Most cannot be parked on the street without blocking traffic and reducing streets on one lane.”
While some people felt that the issue could be explained by a “lack of parking everywhere” or “too many cars in Australia”, others were less forgiving and called on their community to “report them all”.
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