Namaste Wellington City Council,

I am lodging this request because of the following situation I experienced recently which had a few unusual and questionable elements to it as well as believing the street was a one way street at the time.

On the 23rd of April this year I parked my vehicle on Kate Sheppard Place,a street I rarely use, which I believed to be a one way street,and so parked on the righthand side of the road. The street leads north- from Parliament end to Murphy street.

About the 29 May I received an infringement notice for the apparent infringement(on 23/4/23) of parking my vehicle in an unsafe manner-I must admit the description of the infringement was a little confusing- later I realised it was due to parking on the wrong' side of the road ie on the righthand side of a 'two way ' street.

'Failed to park a vehicle parallel to the direction of the roadway and as close as possible to the left'.

On hindsight, after understanding the apparent infringement received- the street is considered to be a two way street. However, the issue is the street appeared to be a one way street at the time and why did I believe so?

I checked online for the details of this infringement and found photos of my parked vehicle etc.

I then lodged an appeal on the 29/5/23 with an acknowledgement advising me they will respond in 10 days.

After not receiving any response from them after 10 days asked for an update .

On the 20/6 contact centre advises me they had already sent me a letter on the 31/5/23 explaining the result of my appeal.

I was only aware of this letter on the 21/6/23 when Parking Resolutions emailed it to me.

It states "We appreciate you did not receive the original infringement notice, the Parking Officer has noted they attached this to your vehicle.

However, the official notification is the reminder notice, which is posted approximately 28 days after the issue of the ticket."

"Based on the reasons above, this infringement will not be waived.
The Parking officer has taken photos of your vehicle parked on the street in relation to the rest of the street and of your vehicle windows to show you have no notes, notices or permits displayed, these would not allow the vehicle to parked illegally but the photos provide further evidence that nothing was visible to the Officer."

The photo's taken by the Parking officer also reveal that no infringement ticket was placed on the vehicle at the time.

- It also states that I have until 20/6/23 to either pay the fine or request a court hearing by the 20/6/23- that's right they advised me of this a day AFTER the due date for BOTH options.

POINTS:

-This is not about avoiding to pay the fine-not such a hefty amount relatively speaking (significant if you are unemployed) but more about why it wasn't clear to me that the street is considered a two way street.

- You can only enter it at one end of this street ie Molesworth Street.

- The ONLY road markings present(at the north end) indicate a one way street - a directional arrow pointing north. There are no road markings indicating a southerly direction for vehicles.

- On returning to the street recently to observe all signs, I noticed on entering the street from Molesworth Street, the righthand lane IS for vehicles exiting out the same end(Molesworth Street), but signage indicating this,a Giveway sign, is not visible entering the street, only on exiting at this end.

-The point of the relevant legislation is to prevent opposing parked vehicles from presenting a hazard to pedestrians but especially to other vehicles either parked correctly or driving past.

At the time the street was empty with no other vehicles on that street except possibly for one -parked in the 'correct' direction facing towards Molesworth Street.

-When I questioned why an infringement ticket was not placed on my windscreen at the time Parking Services responded:

"We appreciate you did not receive the original infringement notice, the Parking Officer has noted they attached this to your vehicle.

However, the official notification is the reminder notice, which is posted approximately 28 days after the issue of the ticket."

Note this is significant point as it is essential the vehicle owner be notified of any potential infringement as soon as possible as this impacts on job applications to some government agencies that require information on any outstanding fines. If you are not aware of the infringement you would give an untruthful/misleading answer to this question- and so the possibility of this being discovered would eventuate should you get the job as 'checks' would be made as part of the hiring process.

Subsequently, in this case, the process/policy of a government agency, would prevent you from being truthful in your job application. Refer to question 12 below.

- By the way the photo's taken by the Parking officer also reveal that no infringement ticket was placed on the vehicle at the time. Refer extract from letter below.

"Based on the reasons above, this infringement will not be waived.
The Parking officer has taken photos of your vehicle parked on the street in relation to the rest of the street and of your vehicle windows to show you have no notes, notices or permits displayed, these would not allow the vehicle to parked illegally but the photos provide further evidence that nothing was visible to the Officer."

-They 'neglected' to put the infringement ticket on my windscreen at the time the infringement was issued which prevented me from being aware of it.

-They 'failed' to respond to my 29/5/23 information request letter within 20 days which would have officially clarified the street as a two way street and not a one way street. Had they done so I would then have had enough time to pay the fine or request a court hearing as per my right.

-They 'forgot' to attach their 31/5/23 letter in an email sent to me on the 31/5/23, instead, I received the emailed letter on the 21/6/23 - a day after the fine was due and a day after the opportunity to request a court hearing.

- I refer you to a previous FYI request made some time ago, in particular, the additional note added today.
https://fyi.org.nz/request/5639-discrimi...

QUESTIONS:

Here some of the questions put to them in my 31/5/23 letter.

1. I would like to know the reason why there was no infringement notice left on my vehicle windscreen?

2. How long has the Parking warden, who issued the notice, been in the job?

3. How long has Kate Sheppard Place been a two way street?

4. Can you provide a time stamped record of your logs indicating when the infringement was initially logged(not the time the photographs were taken)?

5. The photograph taken at 16:17pm shows a vehicle behind my vehicle facing in the opposite direction to mine -towards Molesworth Street- was an infringement notice issued for that vehicle?

6. What is the reason for photographing the inside of my vehicle and the front of my vehicle (refer 16:16pm) when you already had a photo of the front showing my vehicle registration and so photographs 1,2,3 & 5 would have been sufficient?

6b. What additional information does that photo provide to WCC/Parking Services?

8. Why can’t you access the photographs of the infringed vehicle once an online appeal has been lodged as I needed to recheck my facts on the matter but was not able to access the photographs? So can this be changed?

9. Also, what is the reason for a 20 minute time limit to lodge an online appeal on your system?

10. Lastly, is Wellington City Council aware that Kate Sheppard Place can be seen as a one way street according to the majority of signs and road markings?

Here are some additional questions.

11. For anyone unfamiliar with this street how are they to tell if it is a two way street based on the points/facts and the current signage and road markings outlined above?

12. Is WCC required to place an infringement ticket on the windscreen at time of the infringement notice being issued(and taking a photo of it for evidential purposes and making it accessible to the vehicle owner)? If not, will WCC make it a legislative requirement from now on?

13. How many such infringement notices were issued(on Kate Sheppard Place) in the last 2 years and how many of those were paid,how many were waived and how many were sent to a collection agency?

Yours sincerely

D Dahya

Dear WCC/BUS: Assurance,

Here is some additional information for consideration.
1. Unclear/confusing signage

The only road markings on the street appear at the northern end(once you have already entered the street and driven to the end) which indicate one-way street heading north towards Murphy Street.

There is signage visible to drivers travelling down Murphy Street stating 'No right turn' into Kate Sheppard place- implying that it is a one-way street.

There is signage, as previously mentioned, stating 'Giveway' at the southern end(Molesworth Street) indicating two lanes but this sign is only visible to drivers exiting the street, not on entering.

2.The infringement notice was issued on the basis that I was parked on the wrong side of a two way street. Kate Sheppard Place is not a typical two way street. A two way street has an entry and exit lanes at both ends. Kate Sheppard Place does not. It has a one lane 'exit only' at one end and a two lane entry and exit at the other. There is no clear signage to indicate the street changes from a two way street to a one way street.

3. The main point is that Google maps shows this as a one way street because Google considers this a one way street based on the available visible signage. So this is not a case of one person mis-reading the signage.

4. Do I need to withdraw my recent job application to WCC as lodging this request may impact on the outcome-please check with your Recruitment department?

Yours sincerely,

D Dahya

Dear BUS: Assurance,

1. In July WCC advised that they have waived the infringement on the basis I genuinely believed I parked in the correct manner(which I did believe at the time) - but only after it was sent to a debt collection agency,Baycorp, who have refused to confirm whether it has impacted on my credit rating. This would affect my ability to apply for loans,travel and other things etc.

2. Despite this, I consider the matter unresolved as I believed at the time I was parked correctly and it was a one way street-which I realise now it is not.

My point is that, why did I believe it was just a one way street?
It was due to the fact that there is more signage indicating it as a one way street then two way streets and will only result in repeated future instances of the same infringements- what benefit would that be to WCC?

I asked whether there were similar infringements of this nature and WCC have stated that there were several in the space of 2 years.

4. In May, a letter from Parking Resolution team advised the ticket would not be waived -citing the parking officer's photographs provided proof I was parked incorrectly- one of my issue has always been the manner in which I was notified of the infringement.

Ironically, the photographs also provided proof that they were taken after the infringement notice was issued and so should have shown the ticket on my windscreen.

3. The issue of why the infringement ticket wasn't left on the windscreen of my vehicle is still outstanding. This is a significant point as it determined when I became aware of the infringement notice. When I did receive the infringement letter, I lodged an appeal and after receiving no reply I asked for an update . I received the outcome of my appeal a day AFTER the deadline to both pay the infringement notice and to request a court hearing.

I have found that photographs of my windscreen taken by the parking warden were taken AFTER the ticket was issued, therefore, I would like to know why there isn't a photograph showing the ticket on my windscreen?

WCC have advised that the Parking Warden advised the ticket was placed on the windscreen. WCC have advised a force of nature beyond the control of WCC has removed it.

So, a force of nature has apparently removed it between the time the ticket was issued to the time the photographs were taken- in a matter of seconds?

6. The WCC need to improve the signage to indicate it is considered both a two way AND a one way street by WCC.

The street lacks CLEAR signage stating the street changes from a two way street to a one way street.

It lacks any CLEAR signage showing the demarcation point between a two way and a one way street.

WCC have stated there are one way arrows on the road itself- I would expect this for anyone believing it is a one way street.

There is one small elevated sign(on the righthand side) that states 'One way' (it is really only noticeable if you are looking for it)but there isn't any signage indicating the street changes from a two way to a one way street.

7. For any unusual streets, that are both two way and one way, there should be directional arrows marked in ALL car spaces themselves and not just at the demarcation point.

8. I have experienced a similar unusual handling of infringement notices by WCC previously issued to me.

Refer https://fyi.org.nz/request/5639-discrimi...

Yours sincerely,

D Dahya