Council gets smart in spy car review

Wellington'st most loathed car will be reined in and reviewed after public outrage.

Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown has ordered a review of the Parkwise spy car after growing pressure for it to be scrapped. It follows a flurry of complaints about unreasonable parking fines and overzealous operators.

The car will be limited to monitoring school zones – its original purpose – while the review is done.

Angry motorists began voicing concerns from the first week the spy car hit the road in August 2010, with many calling it a cash cow.

The camera-mounted vehicle was introduced to target parents double-parking when dropping children at school and to ensure areas such as loading zones and yellow lines were kept clear.

However, it has been seen snaking around suburbs and trawling inner-city streets pinging every car in the wrong, with no discretion for extenuating circumstances.

Former Wellington resident Ann Reeves was ticketed after pulling over to let the spy car pass on a narrow road. She is taking the council to court next month to contest the $60 ticket she received after being photographed by the spy car on broken yellow lines.

The review will consider whether or not there should be more tolerance for short duration parking offences, whether some parking spaces should be converted into drop-off and pickup bays, and whether changes should be made to the ticket appeals process. Several councillors have spoken out against the car and pushed for the review, which should be completed by the end of March.

Councillor Bryan Pepperell said a review gave the council a chance to strike a better balance between enforcement and road safety. "Parking enforcement is essential for the safety of all road users but we also don't want enforcement to unnecessarily impinge on the everyday realities of inner-city road use."

Councillor Ray Ahipene-Mercer, who labelled the car a "Gestapo spywagon", said it should be temporarily garaged until the criteria for its use, the training of operators and the mechanisms for dealing with complaints were properly dealt with.

Ms Wade-Brown said she wanted to retain the car but ensure people were given a fair hearing when making explanations after being ticketed.

Transport portfolio leader Andy Foster said the spy car's use had already been modified recently, including ensuring it circled the block and took two separate photos of vehicles that were double-parked before issuing tickets.

However, the car had sparked negative feedback and a review was an appropriate response, he said.

"Parking enforcement is a necessity in any major city for safety, traffic movement and parking space turnover, but we need to ensure that it is done in a way which is generally understood to be fair and reasonable."

At a cost of $250,000 a year, the modified Toyota Yaris has issued more than 17,000 tickets since it was launched, generating revenue of $900,000.

Earlier this month, council infrastructure director Stavros Michael said there was no quota for drivers to meet, and 15,000 fewer parking tickets were issued by Wellington parking wardens in the last financial year.

The council's parking enforcement services are contracted out to Tenix Solutions, which subcontracts them out to Parkwise.

- © Fairfax NZ News