Parking inspector sacked after confessing to handing out ‘fake fines’ in Uni car park in bid to meet ‘quota’

A parking inspector has confessed to handing out fake fines at a major Adelaide university – at one point issuing 14 fines to a business owner over false allegations he parked illegally at the university’s car park. Adelaide man Bruno Elias suspected something was wrong when he received the astounding number of fines in the mail. The infringements claimed he illegally parked at the Wilson car park at Adelaide University. “I went through them all (the fines) and I knew they weren’t me,” Mr Elias told 9 News. “I didn’t know where 140A parking location at Adelaide University was.” The enforcements were escalated to the South Australian government’s Fines Enforcement and Recovery Unit – with threats Mr Elias’ licence and registrations would be cancelled and his cars repossessed. Mr Elias claimed he was told by Wilson they could not help, prompting him to do his own investigation. There, he discovered the single employee behind these alleged infringements – and a surprising connection which ran through his friend network. “There’s five people that I know of in my friendship group that have got these fines,” Mr Elias said. 9 News reports the employee confessed to issuing the fines – allegedly achieved by punching in number plates to the system, with black photos as “evidence” – to meet a “daily quota”. “He basically said they were easy rego numbers because I used to see them all the time,” Mr Elias told the broadcaster. “I think it’s a big problem and it needs to be investigated at the highest level because its not good enough.” NewsWire has contacted both Wilson and Adelaide University for comment. In a statement to 9 News, Wilson said they became aware of concerns about the conduct of a single parking enforcement officer in Adelaide. “We promptly launched an internal investigation and the individual is no longer employed by Wilson Parking,” the company said in a statement. Impacted customers have had their issued fines cancelled.