Victoria's new fines body has been lashed by the state watchdog, which has been inundated with hundreds of complaints since the agency began in late 2017.
A father who received enforcement letters for fines incurred by his dead son and a pensioner who received a letter of demand for $1 were among complaints made about Fines Victoria to the state ombudsman last year.
Ombudsman Deborah Glass's office received 605 complaints about the agency in 2018, almost three-quarters more than it received about its predecessor agency, Civic Compliance Victoria.
It made it the third-most complained about public agency.
In a report tabled in parliament on Wednesday, Ms Glass said people wrongly had their licences suspended or treated as if they are liable for fines, when they committed no offence, due to Fine Victoria's errors and delays.
She said the impact of the issues should not be underestimated and she will keep the organisation under review to see if further investigation is warranted.
Many complaints were caused by a new IT system, which has still not been fully rectified.
But some issues were due to poor communication or handling of complaints and an inflexible approach.
Ms Glass said payment plans by people facing serious financial hardship were not being dealt with properly.
Their worry and frustration was then compounded when they were unable to get through to the agency and have their complaints resolved fairly.
"They plainly were causing sleepless nights; people told us of anxious elderly parents, frustration, anxiety and sometimes, trauma," Ms Glass aid.
"In the vast majority of these cases, it should not have taken the intervention of the Ombudsman for Fines Victoria to have simply done the right thing."
Ms Glass said Fines Victoria was candid about its failings and had put in significant resources to address its IT issues and delays.
But she said this was "not good enough", as the issues were not solely caused by IT failings.
"If the system is failing it is even more important to get the human element right," she said.
Ms Glass says her office is continuing to receive complaints, but it's too early to tell whether any improvements have had an effect.
A government spokesman said the "significant shortcomings" in implementing Fines Victoria were unacceptable and the agency is working with its service providers to fix the issues.
"The former Liberal government's fines reform act was undercooked when it was introduced into parliament - causing a number of avoidable issues we've been forced to fix," he said.
However, the Opposition has blamed a bungled IT system introduced by the Andrews government for the problems, saying it was at least 18 months behind schedule and about $15 million over budget.
Australian Associated Press
