A BUSINESS owner has called on Sutherland Shire Council to issue parking permits to shops in the Cronulla CBD to support struggling proprietors.
Brooke Needham, co-owner of Studio B Hair Design in Croydon Street, Cronulla, said many business owners were fined regularly because they could not get away from work to move their cars.
Ms Needham, who once amassed $3000 in fines for overstaying the time limit in the council-owned car parks, said it was not always possible for business owners to park in residential streets and walk to work because they had to unload stock.
She said she recently received six fines in a matter of weeks after a staff member resigned without notice, leaving her alone at work.
As a result, Ms Needham, who often brings her six-month-old baby Mikayla to the salon, was unable to move her car within the four-hour time limit.
"I will not park up the street when it's not daylight saving because I don't want to walk back to the car in the dark. It's not very safe," she said.
"I would normally go and move my car at lunchtime but [when I got fined] I had clients in.
"It's also hard with the baby. I have to take her and put her in the car and move the car."
She also accused the council's parking infringement officers of being overzealous.
"I got [to the car] once and the guy was typing it into his computer and I said 'I am moving it now' and he said 'too late'," she said.
Ms Needham said each fine was $99, or five tins of baby formula, and increased to $160 if late.
She called on the council to issue one permit to each business owner to use on the upper levels of the multi-storey car park as it was "never full".
A Sutherland Shire Council spokeswoman said while it understood all-day parking close to Cronulla CBD was limited, "a business parking scheme would be counterproductive to efforts taken to maximise the number of customers for Cronulla businesses".
"Any such scheme would significantly reduce the number of car spaces available to shoppers and stop the flow of customers, which is achieved by having time-restricted parking," she said.
"The council consults Cronulla Chamber of Commerce as to what parking arrangements exist in Cronulla [and] provides businesses and the public with a parking map outlining where parking is available in the Cronulla area, including timed and all-day parking."
The spokeswoman said only the Cronulla Beach CBD manager, and not other council staff, was given a parking permit.
Should Cronulla retailers be allowed to park all day?
