Problem
Mel is a delivery driver for FastPickUp, a courier company based in Mascot. One morning, one of the jobs Mel is assigned is to collect some boxes of stationery from an office building.
To collect the stationery, Mel is required to drive his delivery van into a multi-storey carpark in Holsworthy NSW. At the entrance to the car park is a boom gate and a ticket machine. In order for the boom gate to rise and allow entrance to the carpark, customers are required to remove a cardboard ticket from the machine. Each ticket is printed on one side with the name of the carpark and the time and date of entry to the carpark, to allow the accurate calculation of parking fees. On the other side of the ticket issued by the machine is the following statement:
"Holsworthy Shoppers' Carpark Pty Ltd does not accept any responsibility for the loss or damage to any vehicle parked in its carparks. It does not matter how the loss or damage may arise or be caused, we will not be liable. Park at your own risk. Ensure that you have adequate insurance."
Also, at the entrance to the carpark to the left of the boom gate is a large fluorescent yellow sign, which reads as follows:
"Parking fees $2.00 per hour. Maximum fee of $20.00 per 24 hours."
"Enter this car park at your own risk. Make sure your insurance is up to date as we will not take any responsibility if something bad happens to your car."
The sign also states:
"Skateboarding is expressly prohibited in this Carpark. Offenders will be prosecuted for trespass."
Mel has used the carpark on several occasions, as she and her friend Syd regularly purchase groceries from the supermarket located next to the carpark. She has removed tickets from the machine in the past and does so again on this occasion. She carries the ticket with her and pays her parking fee before returning to the delivery van with stationery she has purchased.
On returning to her parking space, Mel discovers that the windscreen of the delivery van has been shattered and there is a large scratch along the side of the vehicle. The broken windscreen is the result of an accident by a group of boys riding skateboards near the parked cars. The large scratch is the result of another carpark user who pushed her baby's pram too close to the delivery van when she was putting her baby into her car. Mel is very upset and wants Holsworthy Shoppers' Carpark Pty Ltd to pay to have her delivery van's windscreen replaced and to repair the scratch along its side.
Answer the following questions:
1. How do you think a Judge would regard the writing on the back of the parking ticket? Is Mel bound by the writing on the back of the carpark ticket?
2. Does it matter that she has used the carpark before? Why or why not?