Latest news with #CellOPark
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Oliver the 'Cash King' was hit with a $97 fine after parking on campus - now he's taking university to court
A budding law student who refused to pay for campus parking using card or an app will take his university to court after he was slogged with a $97 fine. Oliver Griffiths, 21, has slammed the University of Wollongong (UOW)'s app where students pay for parking - arguing it excludes those who prefer to use cash. The fourth-year student downloaded the app, CellOPark, but didn't like how it bulk-billed him at the end of the month instead of every time he parked. The $40 deduction eventually put a restriction on his debit card, so Mr Griffiths stopped using the app and placed a handwritten note on his car instead. He wrote that he was happy to pay for parking - as long as it was with cash. Despite his efforts, he was slapped with a $97 fine. Mr Griffiths now plans to fight the fine in local court and has started a GoFundMe to raise funds for his legal fees - which has so far raised $500 of its $5,000 goal. 'I am doing this out of principle - that cash is fundamental to the economic and personal freedom of Australians, it is our LEGAL TENDER and should not be refused for essential services, and that banks should not have the excessive control over our lives as they currently do,' he wrote on the fundraiser. Mr Griffiths wrote on the GoFundMe he didn't have the money or legal backing to take his case to court so was relying on his own research and preparation. 'My name is Oliver and I am a fourth year law student at the University of Wollongong. On campus, like most universities, we have paid-parking,' he wrote. 'Raises over $3million from students per year. Around the start of second semester last year, UOW implemented 'cashless parking'. 'They require us to use an app called CelloPark which takes our car's registration details and bulk bills our parking fees. A few times, I have been short on 'digital cash' due to bills, textbooks and other payments - but I have always had cash. 'Since I discovered this change, I have always left a note on my windscreen offering to pay for my parking in cash and providing my contact details. 'I was issued a fine for the first time recently. I have until May 20 to take my claim to court, and I suspect my case will have grounds for appeal.' A spokesperson for the university said CellOPark app was good for students as they only had to pay parking for the time they were there. 'However, UOW still retains parking ticket machines that accept cash, including at each of the four major casual car parks on the Wollongong Campus,' they said. 'There are also card-only machines, which provide another alternative to CellOPark.'
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gen Z student fights $97 parking fine amid growing Aussie trend: 'This is wrong'
A young law student is fighting a $97 parking fine he copped at his university campus because he said he wasn't able to pay with cash. Oliver Griffiths loves cash, and he was frustrated when the University of Wollongong (UOW) "streamlined and simplified" its systems by introducing an app where you could pay for parking. The 21-year-old gave the app, CellOPark, a whirl, but discovered it didn't charge him every time he parked, and instead bulk-billed him at the end of the month. Griffiths told Yahoo Finance this had an unintended impact on his finances. "I linked it to my transaction account, thinking it would come out that day, but once I paid for everything through the month, it deducted like $40... but there wasn't $40 in my account at the time," he said. Cashless concern as date Australia will ditch physical currency revealed Common $358 a day expense the ATO lets you claim on tax without receipts Hallway photo reveals urgent $141,000 property price warning as interest rates dropped He said it's not uncommon for him to be "short on digital cash" due to bills, textbooks and other payments. This $40 deduction ended up putting a restriction on his debit card, which left him furious. Griffiths normally carries around a few dollars in coins, which he said would easily be able to pay for his parking for a few hours, but claimed the cash parking meters have been stopped using CellOPark and opted for a sign on his car that said he would happily pay to park his car if he could use cold, hard cash. Unsurprisingly, he copped a $97 parking fine and had a deadline of Wednesday, May 20, to pay it. Some Aussie councils have sparked backlash from members of the community after introducing cashless parking meters in the same way as UoW. Instead of paying the infringement or complaining to the powers that be at the UoW, he's putting his knowledge of the law to the test and fighting it. "In my legal research, there was a case in the 1800s that established the concept of legal tender," he told Yahoo Finance. "If you owe someone a debt and something is legal tender, you have to accept that you can't refuse repayment via legal tender." He admitted the introduction of digital payments in the last few decades had muddied that precedent a bit. But the student also plans on drawing on a recent case from Germany, where two men tried to pay for their TV license with cash but were knocked back. While it didn't work out well for the duo, the case helped the Court of Justice of the European Union confirm the common definition of legal tender for future cases. Griffiths is planning on first contesting the fine in the local court. If he loses, he can appeal, which could escalate it to a higher court. The fourth-year law student said he's prepared to keep going through that process until it reaches the highest court possible. It could end up setting a national precedent on cash He's crowdfunding to help with legal costs. "I'm a uni student, right?" he said. "I can't afford thousands of dollars for lawyers to make an argument for me. It's just a working man against Goliath. "If I lose, at the end of the day, I can live my life going, you know what, I actually went to the court and I said, 'This is wrong. I don't agree with it'. "I'm standing up for something I believe in. If you don't have principles or convictions, then what's the point?" A spokesperson for the university told Yahoo Finance the introduction of the CellOPark payment app resulted in a reduction of the number of parking ticket machines across the campus. "However, UOW still retains parking ticket machines that accept cash, including at each of the four major casual car parks on the Wollongong Campus," they said. "There are also card-only machines, which provide another alternative to CellOPark." They added that cash payments comprised of less than 1 per cent of all transactions for parking, and more than 80 per cent of parking payments are done through the app. Griffiths disputed the claim that there are still cash parking meters available. "I've gone to every parking meter on campus to try and find one," he said. "I'm very happy to have a staff member escort me to a ticket machine to find out where I can pay. "The last time I tried to pass a boom gate to pay cash in the sports parking area, they let me through for free and told me they do not accept cash." UOW said the CellOPark app provided a more "flexible" payment system for students because you would only pay for the time you were there, rather than fork out for a full or half-day rates. Most people around Griffiths' age have grown up with digital payments being the norm, however this 21-year-old said cash is very important to him. "One of the big things I learned when I became an adult was just how much tapping your card chips away at your account," he said. "And you don't get to see that, and you you lose track of how much you're spending." He uses cash mainly as a budgeting tool as being able to hold his money gives him a much bigger appreciation for it. This was backed up by research last year that confirmed using cash can help you save more money because you're more conscious of your spending. Working part-time at his local Aldi, Griffiths said many customers have talked to him about cash and the different ways it benefits them, from pensioners who don't like digital payments, to those experiencing coercive control from their partners. But he's been dismayed at the rapid societal transition away from cash in favour of digital payments like using your card or smart device. "I think businesses have lost how they view currency exchange, and they see it more as a cost rather than a service, particularly in the banking industry," he told Yahoo Finance. Banks have been closing branches and removing ATMs because customers overwhelmingly prefer to do get their banking needs met online. He's a big believer in essential services like banks, supermarkets, fuel stations and car parks being forced to accept cash. "If you're in an essential industry, there are people that rely on cash," he said. "It's a security net for people to be able to engage in the economy and buy the things they need." The student believes a car park constitutes an essential service because there are only so many available and it's not normal to have another one with a different payment structure next door. The government is working on introducing legislation that would force essential businesses to always accept and carry cash, and hoped to have it installed by next while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data
