Editorial: The parking tickets fiasco

THE WELLINGTONIAN

OPINION: Thousands of soccer fans walked out of Westpac stadium in a buoyant mood earlier this month after watching New Zealand beat Bahrain and book their place at next year's World Cup in South Africa.

For dozens, maybe hundreds, their euphoric mood would have evaporated when they reached their cars and discovered that zealous traffic wardens had issued parking tickets to car after car.

The victims were primarily those parked along Thorndon Quay, but also included spectators who had left their cars in nearby streets.

This is nothing new. Those who regularly attend Wellington Phoenix soccer games at the stadium see cars getting their tyres marked with chalk and then being issued with parking tickets even before the game has begun.

Of course, the righteous will say cars parked illegally on Thorndon Quay deserve to incur hefty fines, but we do not agree.

There is little justification for the council sending out a posse of wardens to issue tickets at a time of the evening when there is absolutely no demand for parking spaces, except among those attending sports events at the stadium.

It is nothing more than council money-grabbing and is just the sort of pernicious behaviour that alienates citizens. It's time it stopped.

In the central business district, it is common practice to park on the footpath while making a delivery, picking up a parcel or just buying a takeaway coffee. Could it be cowardice that drives wardens to Westpac, where they know they won't be interrupted by aggrieved drivers, and keeps them away from the short-term trouble spots?

People park illegally all around the city during weekdays and they ought to be punished accordingly.

While it's irritating to get a ticket, most accept that if we have parked in a loading zone or at a bus stop, or have not put enough money into the parking meter, we deserve to get fined.

But deliberately targeting cars parked late into the evening is a different matter.

The council has been only too willing to bask in the reflected glory of the great soccer occasion. But what made the evening so special was the way Wellingtonians supported the venture, snapping up tickets so quickly and flocking to the ground clad in white to support their team.

If it was a partnership between the council and its citizens, the citizens were fantastic, but the council, at least in the matter of the parking tickets, let down the side.

Surely it's time to review ticketing procedures.

Some councillors – almost all of whom are car owners, mind you – profess to be utterly anti-car. Despite driving themselves when it suits, they appear to look upon other car users as low-lifes unworthy of respect.

It's one thing to encourage the use of walking, bicycles or public transport, but it's another to viciously penalise car users. The traffic wardens attack their jobs with religious fervour, on a mission to milk citizens of as much money as possible

The council coffers are swelled, so no-one there is complaining. In fact, wardens are directed to work at odd hours in areas where there is likely to be a good money haul.

It's too late now to do anything about the fiasco that took place after the soccer international, but let's hope it's the last time such naked money-grabbing takes place.