Melb Woman Told To Pay Parking Fine Despite Legit Psychiatric Breakdown

The Yarra Council has done a pretty great job of demonstrating there’s still a lot of work to be done with mental health awareness, after telling a woman that a psychiatric breakdown requiring hospitalisation was not reason enough to have a $76 parking fine waived.
The woman, whose name is understandably being withheld because this thing is a whole gross mess, got the fine while at a crisis appointment with her doctor.
Despite being told that her condition was too severe to continue work and despite being referred to a psychologist due to anxiety and depression issues related to her physical health (in addition to all of this, she has cancer), the council initially considered this not to be a medical emergency. 
Although they eventually caved, in the email sent to her informing that the fine had been dropped the manager of parking services told her that they would not have considered the circumstances extenuating either. 
And not just that, they, extremely insensitively, told her that “your medical condition does not give you the right to park illegally”, like she was using life-threatening mental illness as an excuse to avoid spending too much time looking for a park.
Once escalated however, the council took back the comments made by the parking manager:

“Our initial response was an error and, following a review by a manager, the parking fine was withdrawn. We also acknowledge and regret that comments made to [the woman] in an email were insensitive. Council does recognise mental health issues as one of the special circumstances for consideration in withdrawing a parking fine when supported by documentation from a treatment provider, such as a medical practitioner.”
The’ve also since issued a formal apology and will be undergoing training to make sure they don’t fuck up this bad again.
Source: The Age.
Photo: Getty Images / David Cooper.
If you or someone else is in an emergency situation, please call 000 immediately.

To contact the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia call their national helpline on 1800 985 944.

To reach SANE, a national charity helping Aussies affected by mental illness lead a better life, call their helpline on 1800 187 263

If you or someone else needs support in a crisis situation please holla at Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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