By NOEL MURPHY
SURF Coast Shire has withdrawn a parking fine against surfing legend Maurice Cole after he complained officers targetted him at Bells Beach while ignoring others parked illegally.
Recreational surfers had complained numerous times of tourist buses parking illegally “all day every day” at Bells without penalties, Mr Cole told the Independent.
“Quite a few people came to me after I was fined – they did kind of target me,” Mr Cole said.
“It’s been an ongoing thing since I was charged for pissing in a bush. It’s really sad.”
Mr Cole, a prominent surfboard shaper and 1972 state surfing champion, has been an outspoken critic of the shire’s management of Bells Beach Surfing Reserve in recent years, exposing asbestos, drainage and traffic issues. He and other surfers formed Bells Beach Preservation Society in 2010 after the shire failed to renew their places on its advisory committee for the reserve.
In 2011 the shire had Mr Cole charged with unlawful damage and offensive behaviour at Bells but police later dropped the charges, citing “insufficient evidence”.
Mr Cole said the preservation society recently emailed the shire protesting the placement of yellow lines restricting where surfers had parked “all our lives”.
He lashed out at the shire for failing to acknowledge the economic impact of recreational surfing.
“Surfing Victoria figures say we contributed more than $200 million to the local economy and yet not one dollar is spent in this shire on recreational surfers.
“They don’t understand recreational surfers and it’s a real culture here that was born here and organically grown. The companies will come and go but one thing will be here forever and a day – recreational surfers.”
Mr Cole copied numerous media outlets into his ongoing email dialogue about the parking fines with shire planning boss Kate Sullivan.
The shire said it had reviewed three parking infringements recently issued at Bells.
“The infringement notices were for parking in front of a yellow line,” Ms Sullivan said.
“The review found the painted yellow line was weathered and therefore not clearly marked. As a result, all three infringements have been withdrawn.”
The shire did not respond to the Independent’s questions whether Mr Cole had been targetted.
