A FATHER who left the window down on his parked and unattended car on a scorching summer's day has been slugged with a fine that has left him hot under the collar.

Julian Harris was visiting family in Brisbane's north on Sunday when he decided to leave two windows down "three to four" centimetres to let some of the hot air escape from the parked car on the 34C day.

It was a decision that left the father of one with a $44 fine and a rap across the knuckles from police.

"It was 34 degrees so I left the windows down slightly so it wouldn't be boiling hot for my 3-year-old son when we got back in.

"I was trying to do the right thing…it's just what you do with it being so hot in Queensland."

Mr Harris returned to the car, which was parked on Windsor Place at Deception Bay, about two hours later to discover the fine for an offence he had never heard of.

Under Queensland law, if a driver is more than 3m from their car, the vehicle must be "secured" with the engine off, hand brake applied, ignition key removed (if no one over 16 remains in vehicle) and windows up with a gap no more than 5cm.

According to SA Police, no such offence exists in South Australia.

Defending police's handling of the incident, Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said the officer involved had been acting on information that there had been property crime in the area.

Mr Stewart said he has reviewed photographs taken by the officer and believed he acted appropriately.

"I would back the judgment of my officer. From the footage that I saw and the reasons that I know the officer utilised to undertake this enforcement in that area, I think the officer was doing a good job.

"The officer was acting on an intelligence brief in that area that here had been a number of thefts from motor vehicles and unlawful uses."

The officer checked five vehicles - issuing warnings in three cases when he could locate the owners and fines in the two other cases.

"The vehicle actually commits three very obvious offences. One is that it is parked on the incorrect side of the road. The second is that it's parked on the footpath. And the third that it doesn't obey the law in relation to the window being open.

"The officer didn't give them three tickets. The officer simply gave this car a ticket for the matter he was doing his job for, which was to try and drop the number of unlawful entries into cars.

"The officer acted quite appropriately and within the law. I would hope that the public would recognise that the officer did use discretion."

Perplexed by his fine, Mr Harris, of Albany Creek, attended the police station and spoke to the officer who issued the ticket.

"I asked him if he had any measurements and he said no…he just told me he had an accurate eye."

"The officer said he had the window on video but told me that he didn't have time to show me."

Mr Harris, 21, said the policeman suggested in future he leave "where he is half an hour early to unlock the car and let it cool" in the future.

Shocked by the fine, the apprentice plasterer took his ticket to the Australian Street Car Magazine Facebook page as a warning to others.

Dale Brown, media manager for the magazine, said readers were reporting petty fines "all the time".

"Police have discretion to use and in this instance we would have thought it would have been better to use this discretion than to write the ticket.

"We understand the police have a hard job to do but I am sure they have better things to be doing than booking a father for having his window open a crack to keep the heat down in his car."

Mr Harris said a friend of a friend was booked for the same offence within hours in Nundah, in Brisbane's inner north.

"It would have been better to leave a first and final warning," he said.

Originally published as This motorist was fined for WHAT?