General News
15 March, 2026
Main street parking blues
TULLY business owners, workers and volunteers are asking Cassowary Coast Regional Council to go easy on them when it comes to time-limited parking on the main street of the town’s CBD.
Several drivers have been fined in recent weeks and months and they believe that’s mainly because it’s unclear how two-hour parking zones work in Butler Street.
They’ve pointed to a lack of signage as being the main part of the problem – but there’s also some confusion about how Council determines whether a vehicle has used up the full two hours set as a limit.
A local worker who was recently fined – but was given a waiver after querying the infringement – says he used a company car to run errands, parking for short amounts of time in different spots, but was still fined even though the total time parked in the zone was nowhere near two hours.
“You park up and you’re there for five minutes, and they come past and check that you’re there, and you go away and come back and do something else again,” Kieran Dunne said.
“So even though you haven’t been parked in the street for a whole two hours – you come back, move spots – even then you’re still considered being in that street for two hours, and you get fined,” he said.
A Butler St hairdressing salon owner, Barbara Hadson, says at least one other driver who parks in the CBD – a volunteer – was also fined in a similar fashion recently.
“Council have now started booking people for spending more than two hours in the main street of Tully – even if they have shifted their car to another parking spot, and after they have gone home and then returned after hours of not having parked in the main street – then spent more time going to the post office, news agents, bakery etc,” she said.
Hard on Seniors
Ms Hadson said she’s concerned that the parking crackdown is heavy-handed, especially for her more senior clients who often have to spend longer times in her salon.
“I mean, if you’re 80 years of age and you have to park your car and walk here instead of shifting it just up the road, geez, that’s a big help for my business, isn’t it? Not!”
The Tully and District Chamber of Commerce discussed the issue at its latest meeting last week, and in a call to council, was told the two-hour limits are separated into two zones – one on each side of Butler St.
“You can definitely park for four hours on Main Street; you just have to move it from one side to the other,” the Chamber’s president, Evelyn Watson said.
Lack of signage
But she also said a lack of signage in the street meant drivers did not know about the two-hour limit for each side.
“It’s absurd, because what if you come into town in the morning, and then your hubby comes into town in the afternoon, and you’re both using the same car, or you don’t know where each other parked, so who’s to say you’re not going to park on the same side?” Ms Watson said.
The chamber and drivers who work in the CBD say more signage would help.
“They ripped out a couple of parking spots and put some garden beds in there, so the street actually lost a few parks itself – but once they did that, they didn’t put any signage back in,” Mr Dunne said.
Interestingly, Mr Dunne says he witnessed council workers erecting two-hour parking limit signage – albeit temporary due to wet weather – the morning after the chamber meeting.
Council: nothing’s changed
Responding to queries from The Observer on its enforcement of parking rules in Tully’s main street and the CBD generally, the Council said it had been issuing parking tickets for “many years and enforcement has not recently changed”.
“Over the past three months (December to February), 56 penalty infringement notices were issued across the Tully CBD, with regulated patrols covering the main business area, including the Violet Smith off-street parking area,” a spokeswoman said.
“Time-limited parking is in place to support local businesses by encouraging turnover and keeping convenient parking spaces available for customers.
“An infringement only applies where a vehicle remains parked in the same area beyond the time indicated on signage.
“Anyone who believes an infringement has been issued incorrectly can request a review.
“Longer-term parking is available in nearby off-street areas, including near the Banyan shopping complex, a short walk from the town centre.”
In the meantime, the business chamber says it hopes the council will come up with a strategy or plan, so that customers won’t be driven away from the centre of town.
“We will raise concerns with the council to start off with and see if they listen to them or if they do anything with those and if they don’t, then we might get an actual public petition going,” Ms Watson said.
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