Adding that much-needed touch of green to our homes isn't just visually pleasing; it's also beneficial for our mental health.

Thousands of garden lovers around Australia practise playful horticulture, tending to their gardens and nurturing their foliage.

However, proceeding beyond the boundaries of one's home with your greenery can sometimes land you in hot water, which is precisely what one Melbourne man experienced.

A Melbourne resident faced a $500 council fine for overhanging branches that they claimed did not belong to their property. Image by Stacey Koenitz R from pexels

Imagine coming home from a leisurely walk, only to find an 'odd letter' in your mailbox. The suspense is palpable, and you scramble to tear open the letter, which soon leaves you nothing short of flabbergasted.

It's a council fine calling you out for a pet peeve of many—overhanging branches. Why, you might ask? That's an adventure worthy of sharing amongst our community here.

The Melbourne resident discovered he'd been slammed with a hefty $500 fine if his tree wasn't trimmed, plus additional charges. Indeed, this must be the universe's sense of humour, he must have thought. Especially since overhanging branches were one of his pet peeves.

Upon further investigation, the plot thickened: it turns out, he was the one who had reported the offence by a property a kilometre away from his home. He did this using the Snap Send Solve app, an initiative adopted by the City of Darebin council to streamline the process of reporting community issues.

In an unexpected twist, the fine ricocheted back to him, the diligent reporter, rather than landing on the doorstep of the actual offending house. His confusion was uncontainable, saying, 'Somehow, the fine bounced to me, the sender.'

After bringing this to the council's attention, it emerged that 'human error' was to blame for this mishap.

The Snap Send Solve app was not fully integrated into the council's request system. As such, the reporting data had to be manually entered by a worker, leading to this sudden and humorous misunderstanding.

The City of Darebin council responded to the resident's question, explaining that the mistake was due to a simple human error. Source: Facebook

The resident shared online that the council admitted the charge was a mistake and he was not liable to pay the fine.

'I think whomever has actioned your initial report accidentally entered your home address instead,' a representative told the resident in a statement.

Apparently, a 'new employee' was to blame for this series of events.Despite the unexpected predicament, the Melbourne man took it in stride, expressing relief that the issue had been resolved, saying, 'All fixed… it was a misunderstanding by staff.'

In Victoria, it's a resident's duty to keep all trees and vegetation within their property, but not a legal requirement unless causing damage or becoming a nuisance.

Key Takeaways

• A Melbourne resident received a $500 council fine for having overhanging branches, an offence which he had reported for a different property.
• An investigation revealed that the fine was charged erroneously due to 'human error' as a new council employee accidentally entered the complainant's address.
• The resident remains grateful that the confusion has been resolved and shares that the mistake was a misunderstanding by council staff.
• The City of Darebin council uses the Snap Send Solve app to facilitate the reporting of community issues. However, in this instance, the app backfired when the data entry was not correctly integrated into the council's request system.

Always a story within a story, isn't there? We hope this one serves as a reminder to keep our trees and shrubs under control to avoid conflict with local councils.

Remember, if you ever find yourself tangled in a similar situation, our advice would be to address it calmly, question it, and take appropriate recourse. Each stumble is but a stepping stone to a better understanding of the way things work.

And whilst we have your attention, if you have a captivating story or your thoughts about this to tell, we'd love to hear from you!

 

[Staffordshire Whippet]

I wouldn't have happened at all if the Darebin City Council hadn't installed this crowd-pleaser app. This is symptomatic of when Councils try to be all-things-to-all-people but do it on the cheap.

 

[KSS]

I wouldn't have happened at all if the Darebin City Council hadn't installed this crowd-pleaser app. This is symptomatic of when Councils try to be all-things-to-all-people but do it on the cheap.

I use that app in my area to report rubbish dumping, abandoned trolleys, seriously uneven pavements and a number of other things. The trolleys get collected quicker because the supermarkets know where they are. The council has always called me about dumped rubbish, uneven pavements etc and have done their best to remedy the situation. I think the app is a good thing.

 

[Dennis]

Adding that much-needed touch of green to our homes isn't just visually pleasing; it's also beneficial for our mental health.

Thousands of garden lovers around Australia practise playful horticulture, tending to their gardens and nurturing their foliage.

However, proceeding beyond the boundaries of one's home with your greenery can sometimes land you in hot water, which is precisely what one Melbourne man experienced.

View attachment 23705

A Melbourne resident faced a $500 council fine for overhanging branches that they claimed did not belong to their property. Image by Stacey Koenitz R from pexels

Imagine coming home from a leisurely walk, only to find an 'odd letter' in your mailbox. The suspense is palpable, and you scramble to tear open the letter, which soon leaves you nothing short of flabbergasted.

It's a council fine calling you out for a pet peeve of many—overhanging branches. Why, you might ask? That's an adventure worthy of sharing amongst our community here.

The Melbourne resident discovered he'd been slammed with a hefty $500 fine if his tree wasn't trimmed, plus additional charges. Indeed, this must be the universe's sense of humour, he must have thought. Especially since overhanging branches were one of his pet peeves.

Upon further investigation, the plot thickened: it turns out, he was the one who had reported the offence by a property a kilometre away from his home. He did this using the Snap Send Solve app, an initiative adopted by the City of Darebin council to streamline the process of reporting community issues.

In an unexpected twist, the fine ricocheted back to him, the diligent reporter, rather than landing on the doorstep of the actual offending house. His confusion was uncontainable, saying, 'Somehow, the fine bounced to me, the sender.'

After bringing this to the council's attention, it emerged that 'human error' was to blame for this mishap.

The Snap Send Solve app was not fully integrated into the council's request system. As such, the reporting data had to be manually entered by a worker, leading to this sudden and humorous misunderstanding.

View attachment 23706

The City of Darebin council responded to the resident's question, explaining that the mistake was due to a simple human error. Source: Facebook

The resident shared online that the council admitted the charge was a mistake and he was not liable to pay the fine.

'I think whomever has actioned your initial report accidentally entered your home address instead,' a representative told the resident in a statement.

Apparently, a 'new employee' was to blame for this series of events.Despite the unexpected predicament, the Melbourne man took it in stride, expressing relief that the issue had been resolved, saying, 'All fixed… it was a misunderstanding by staff.'

In Victoria, it's a resident's duty to keep all trees and vegetation within their property, but not a legal requirement unless causing damage or becoming a nuisance.

Key Takeaways

• A Melbourne resident received a $500 council fine for having overhanging branches, an offence which he had reported for a different property.
• An investigation revealed that the fine was charged erroneously due to 'human error' as a new council employee accidentally entered the complainant's address.
• The resident remains grateful that the confusion has been resolved and shares that the mistake was a misunderstanding by council staff.
• The City of Darebin council uses the Snap Send Solve app to facilitate the reporting of community issues. However, in this instance, the app backfired when the data entry was not correctly integrated into the council's request system.

Always a story within a story, isn't there? We hope this one serves as a reminder to keep our trees and shrubs under control to avoid conflict with local councils.

Remember, if you ever find yourself tangled in a similar situation, our advice would be to address it calmly, question it, and take appropriate recourse. Each stumble is but a stepping stone to a better understanding of the way things work.

And whilst we have your attention, if you have a captivating story or your thoughts about this to tell, we'd love to hear from you!

I have never been bothered about over hanging bushes and trees until now, recently I have bought a mobility scooter and sometimes curse to myself where people have let their bushes wander onto the footpath, it is a roadway offence to drive on the road where there is a footpath, It has got worse this week as I have bought a rain proof covering has I have been caught twice by showers on the way back from the shops and I hope the branches do not penetrate as it was quite pricey, pardon the pun but I think these dealers are taking us Seniors for a ride they think all of us have had big pay outs when we have retired, hope you all have a good W/E. Dennis R.

 

[KSS]

I have never been bothered about over hanging bushes and trees until now, recently I have bought a mobility scooter and sometimes curse to myself where people have let their bushes wander onto the footpath, it is a roadway offence to drive on the road where there is a footpath, It has got worse this week as I have bought a rain proof covering has I have been caught twice by showers on the way back from the shops and I hope the branches do not penetrate as it was quite pricey, pardon the pun but I think these dealers are taking us Seniors for a ride they think all of us have had big pay outs when we have retired, hope you all have a good W/E. Dennis R.

Where I live has few streetlights and consequently it is very dark at night or early morning. I have frequently walked into low hanging branches which pose a great danger to my eyes not to mention the bumps to the head when I don't see them in time. It can be very dangerous and property owners should be forced to ensure overhanging branches are well above the average height of people and do not protrude beyond the fenceline.