Wellington’s Vigilant Wardens
Parking wardens get a lot of bad press and this week is no exception. On Sunday night the Phoenix game against Perth Glory ran into extra time – a nail biting affair – and Wellington’s seemingly vigilant wardens were out on patrol in Thorndon Quay, issuing 61 tickets to football fans caught out by the game and exceeding the two hour time limit. Wellington City Council has bowed to the understandable outrage and waived the fines, though taking the time to explain that the wardens were simply doing their jobs.
This is not the first time that Wellington City Council’s wardens have been accused of being over zealous. Earlier this month it was revealed that they had been issuing infringement notices under a non-existent law - a reminder notice for not displaying a current vehicle licence label - for months after the mistake was pointed out. There have also been tales of officials who lingered by vehicles until the earliest possible moment a ticket could be issued, ticketing a car in a loading zone with a passenger in the back even though the passenger moved the vehicle, and former wardens likening the Council’s incentive schemes to a ticketing quota. In fact, the Dominion Post reported in January that in the year to last June, Wellington City council received approximately 20,000 letters of appeal or objection regarding parking fines and that of those complaints over half (11,688) were waived.
The facetious among us may delight in this article I stumbled across from the BBC online – a most ingenious, though a little unfair, way of protecting oneself from unfair ticketing dating from 1963. It seems parking wardens have been overzealous for years!
A man who electrified his car to ward off traffic wardens may be able to evade the law.
Peter Hicks, 40, a farmer from Sussex, is waiting to find out whether he will be prosecuted for rigging up an electric device on his Land Rover.
Yesterday a police officer heard a strange ticking noise emanating from the vehicle parked in Marylebone and received a nasty shock when he touched it.
A sergeant also jumped when he came to see what shocked the constable and sparks flew when an inspector turned up to give his opinion on the situation.
Mr Hicks, who sells his produce in London's Covent Garden market, had attached a mechanism normally used to electrify fences to his car as part of a private war against traffic wardens.
It gives out a shock of about 2,000 volts but Mr Hicks insisted the amperage is low, rendering the device "harmless, apart from a bit of a flash and a nasty jog".
Police disarmed the car and had a long chat with Mr Hicks but he has yet to find out what action they will take against him, if any.
"Until somebody tells me what law I'm breaking I shall keep up my private war. I have plenty more of these lovely machines," he told the press later.
Mr Hicks already pays £30 a week in fines for parking his 50 lorries and his Land Rover was getting tickets almost every day.
Four weeks ago he electrified his car initially as an anti-theft device.
He has not had a parking ticket since he made sure all his lorries were electrified by being parked bumper to bumper behind his Land Rover.
"I've watched quite a few wardens cop it, trying to put a ticket on my truck. They gave up in disgust - and shock!" he said.
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