An Adelaide motorist has successfully challenged a $342 parking fine after dashcam footage showed he was performing a legal parking manoeuvre when an AI-powered camera from a council-operated vehicle recorded the alleged offence.

The incident occurred on September 29 when the driver was taking his son to a nearby barber. After spotting an available parking space, he indicated, briefly stopped to allow three vehicles to pass and then reversed into the space.

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However, one of the passing vehicles was a Subaru Forester operated by Adelaide City Council as part of its ‘Park Safe’ enforcement program, which uses cameras, numberplate recognition and artificial intelligence to identify potential parking offences. The driver received a $342 fine for stopping in a bicycle lane, despite maintaining that he had only stopped as part of a legal parking manoeuvre.

Sharing his experience on Reddit under the username u/Due-Permission-6732, the driver posted images from his dashcam footage showing the circumstances surrounding the alleged offence and questioned the accuracy of the council’s automated enforcement system.

“I am probably one of the lucky ones that has this type of evidence – how many people are being wrongfully fined without being able to prove otherwise?” he wrote.

The driver formally contested the fine, and despite being advised that the review process could take four to six weeks, Adelaide City Council withdrew the penalty in less than one business day. In a follow-up Reddit post, the motorist welcomed the decision but questioned how many other drivers might have been incorrectly fined.

Adelaide City Council has previously stated that images captured by its Park Safe vehicles are reviewed by trained officers before fines are issued.