Council defends memorial match parking tickets

Hundreds of Mandurah residents gathered at Securitas Protect stadium on the weekend to farewell Chris before the Mandurah City FC game against Sorrento.

The 12-year-old soccer fan lost his four-year battle with myelodysplastic syndrome on Monday, June 5, and the club paid a moving tribute to their biggest fan by releasing black and white balloons.

Chris was a promising junior player for the club who, after his illness developed and he couldn’t play anymore, decided to take up the role of mascot.

He was also a junior ambassador for DT38, a foundation formed to raise funds and awareness for men’s health with a focus on terminal illness.

Mr Conlan said he couldn’t manage to get a parking spot at the stadium due to large crowd attending the event, and was forced to leave his car on a nearby verge, with part of the car parked on the footpath.

After the the game, he said he was annoyed to find out that his and at least three other cars had received an $80 parking ticket.

“I understand that I parked in a wrong spot but I had no other option,” he said.

“There was a hundred cars parked on the verge.

“On a day like that I feel the council should be more aware of what is going on in the community and be a little bit more sensitive to that.”

City of Mandurah chief Mark Newman said the City hadn’t been advised of a memorial event taking place at the stadium and he defended the officers’ decision to issue parking tickets.

“The City’s parking officers performing normal patrol duties discovered three vehicles parked on the footpath, which is potentially hazardous to pedestrians and other road users,” he said.

“If the vehicles had parked in appropriate places along the road in the vicinity, they would have been parked legally.”