The council finally buckled to her pleas for the fine to be waived on medical grounds, but the head of parking services warned her in writing that "Your mental health issues cannot provide you with immunity to park wherever or whenever you wish". After the council initially rejected her application, stating: "... the medical circumstances outlined in your appeal are not extenuating," the woman phoned the parking services office to query what would be considered a valid medical reason for waiving a fine. "The person I spoke to said examples of a medical emergency would be if you broke your leg or cut your finger and couldn't drive," said the woman, who Fairfax Media has chosen not to name. "I told her that I was in no state to drive, then she said that because my psychiatric illness rendered me temporarily unfit to drive I shouldn't be allowed to drive at all. I explained that someone can recover from a mental illness, just like having a broken leg." The fine was only waived after the woman, who is a lawyer, wrote to Yarra City councillors advising them that refusing her application on the basis that a psychiatric episode was not a "medical circumstance" appeared to be in breach of anti-discrimination laws.

She also included additional medical records showing her condition on the day the fine was issued had deteriorated to the point that she was admitted to a psychiatric ward and put under the care of a critical assessment team for two weeks. But in the email advising her that the fine had been dropped, the council's manager of parking services defended the original decision, saying "based on the evidence supplied I would not have withdrawn the infringement either". The senior council officer also issued a "warning that your medical condition does not give you the right to park illegally and I would not show the same consideration should you receive another infringement for a similar offence". The woman has slammed the council over its handling of her case, saying she was concerned about the local government authority's dealings with other people with mental illness who were not in a position to defend themselves. She said while the junior employee's comments were troubling and suggested a lack of training and understanding, the position adopted by the senior manager caused her the most distress.

"The wording [in the emails] that implied I can't just park anywhere because I'm a psycho … that really got me," she said. "Like they'll let me get away with it this time but don't try it again. It made me feel like I was being spat at and pushed my [recovery] back a bit further. "The council doesn't seem to recognise mental illness as a medical condition or understand the severity of it or how it can affect a person's ability to make decisions." After being contacted by Fairfax Media, Yarra Council issued an apology to the woman for the distress caused by its "error". It conceded the woman's case had clearly met the requirements of "special circumstances" and apologised for the "insensitive" comments made by the senior staff member. "Our initial response was an error and, following a review by a manager, the parking fine was withdrawn," a spokeswoman said. "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.

"This was clearly the case in [these] circumstances." The spokeswoman said staff would be given extra training about the criteria for withdrawing a fine on the basis of special circumstances.