Help our family with legal costs
Donation protected
I am trying to raise money for my dad, Dean the owner of Unique Carriage Hire. He is a Melbourne Horse Drawn carriage operator and has been running in the CBD for over 30 years!
Last Christmas my daughter Lilah had a quad bike accident and was airlifted to the Royal Children’s hospital. We spent over a week in the Trauma ward and in that time The Royal Children’s Hospital truly cared for both of us. The staff and facilities are just amazing. Even though my heart was breaking for my little one, the compassion we received was second to none.
In the months later while Lilah was recovering at home, my dad suggested the idea of raising money for The Royal Children’s Hospital. We normally don’t advertise it but on occasion we allow people to give the horses carrots as a treat. He thought maybe we could change the carrots to $3 and donate that money to the hospital.
Once we started it was obvious that it was a win, win, win situation. One, it made us happy seeing the people and children’s face light up interacting with our horses. Two, not all people can afford a carriage ride but can often afford to give them a treat. Three, we were able to donate to the Royal children’s hospital and it was also a win to the Horses who enjoy the treats!
So far we had raised and donated about $850!. If we had been allowed to continue we could have potentially raised much more. The council have said we do not have a permit to sell goods so we disagreed with them stating that it’s a service, not goods. In our permit is states we can sell anything related to our Horse Drawn carriage business and we believe selling carrots for the horses is related to our business. The Melbourne City Council do not agree.
We received a letter to comply with the council and emailed them to work out what we can do in order to continue doing it, we told them we feel that it is related to our business. After numerous emails they didn’t help us work it out and in the end didn’t even reply!!! On the day we got fined we weren’t even selling the carrots WE HAD GIVEN them away!
We went to court today against the Melbourne City council for selling carrots and a parking issue. 2 seperate issues. We now have to pay nearly $3000 in court fees.
With the permits not being renewed it has changed the business dramatically and he has been struggling to cover costs. My dad has too much pride to ask but I have taken it upon myself to start a 'GoFundMe'. So many people have contacted us suggesting it so I thought it would be worth a try.
I would love to raise some money to cover the court fees, to help him with his future court dates and to mitigate solicitor/barrister fees. He has more dates coming up against the Melbourne City Council involving our permits.
Please share and help me raise some money for him!
Chanel 7 News report
Save Melbourne Horse Drawn Carriage Facebook page
Unique Carriage Hire Facebook page




Last Christmas my daughter Lilah had a quad bike accident and was airlifted to the Royal Children’s hospital. We spent over a week in the Trauma ward and in that time The Royal Children’s Hospital truly cared for both of us. The staff and facilities are just amazing. Even though my heart was breaking for my little one, the compassion we received was second to none.
In the months later while Lilah was recovering at home, my dad suggested the idea of raising money for The Royal Children’s Hospital. We normally don’t advertise it but on occasion we allow people to give the horses carrots as a treat. He thought maybe we could change the carrots to $3 and donate that money to the hospital.
Once we started it was obvious that it was a win, win, win situation. One, it made us happy seeing the people and children’s face light up interacting with our horses. Two, not all people can afford a carriage ride but can often afford to give them a treat. Three, we were able to donate to the Royal children’s hospital and it was also a win to the Horses who enjoy the treats!
So far we had raised and donated about $850!. If we had been allowed to continue we could have potentially raised much more. The council have said we do not have a permit to sell goods so we disagreed with them stating that it’s a service, not goods. In our permit is states we can sell anything related to our Horse Drawn carriage business and we believe selling carrots for the horses is related to our business. The Melbourne City Council do not agree.
We received a letter to comply with the council and emailed them to work out what we can do in order to continue doing it, we told them we feel that it is related to our business. After numerous emails they didn’t help us work it out and in the end didn’t even reply!!! On the day we got fined we weren’t even selling the carrots WE HAD GIVEN them away!
We went to court today against the Melbourne City council for selling carrots and a parking issue. 2 seperate issues. We now have to pay nearly $3000 in court fees.
With the permits not being renewed it has changed the business dramatically and he has been struggling to cover costs. My dad has too much pride to ask but I have taken it upon myself to start a 'GoFundMe'. So many people have contacted us suggesting it so I thought it would be worth a try.
I would love to raise some money to cover the court fees, to help him with his future court dates and to mitigate solicitor/barrister fees. He has more dates coming up against the Melbourne City Council involving our permits.
Please share and help me raise some money for him!
Chanel 7 News report
Save Melbourne Horse Drawn Carriage Facebook page
Unique Carriage Hire Facebook page
Organizer
Jaime Crichton
Organizer
Bunyip North VIC
