Melbourne, Australia chief executive David Pitchford admitted the existence of ticket quotas yesterday as he pledged to put an end to the practice. The city makes A$28 million a year in parking tickets. The admission comes in light of an investigation by State Ombudsman George Brouwer that showed parking officials altered records to hide evidence of ticket mistakes. Pitchford said the managers responsible would be moved to different city jobs.

Under the quota system, meter maids were told to issue 30 tickets a day, worth up to A$100 each, or face a financial penalty. Anyone consistently missing the quota would be fired. For some meter maids, this meant working late to blanket popular night spots and taking advantage of confusing signs to ticket unsuspecting drivers. In April, the city issued a parking ticket to a dead man.

Melbourne has agreed to adopt the Ombudsman's recommendations to fix the parking ticket system.