Acting Prime Minister Bill English has been accused of letting privilege overtake common sense after his limo and security detail illegally double-parked while he got a haircut.
The driver of his limo and the police driver received $220 in parking tickets after waiting for 50 minutes outside Haight Ashbury hairdressers in Wellington. The limo sat on double yellow lines while the Diplomatic Protection Squad members parked in a mobility zone.
Richard Griffin, press secretary to Jim Bolger when he was Prime Minister, said the incident was depressing: "It's a sad little story of privilege overtaking common sense."
The furore completes a hat-trick of embarrassments for English. First he was forced to repay his ministerial housing allowance after using complex ownership structures to claim an extra $900 a week. Then he was at the centre of a broadcasting storm after TVNZ admitted using him prominently in a promo was a "mistake".
Wellington City Council mobility parks co-ordinator Fabian Todd noticed Friday's infringement. "If anyone parks in these spaces and doesn't have a permit, it's illegal," he said. "I don't care whether you're Bill English or Joe Bloggs."
English was not available for interview yesterday, but a spokesman said drivers were responsible for where they parked, and the minister didn't know where his cars were waiting.
Griffin doubted this. "For Bill not to realise the car was just sitting there - I can't believe it."
He also said it was unfair for English's driver and security detail to have to pay the fines. "It is his responsibility, and try to hand it off is wrong."
Police Association president Greg O'Connor had yet to talk to the officers involved, but hoped it would not be a rerun of speedgate, when the driver of a Helen Clark motorcade who sped to make a rugby game she was attending was convicted of dangerous driving.
Griffin said politicians pressed for time or unable to reach a salon used to arrange for a hairdresser to visit them at the Beehive. English's spokesman said he was unaware of such a service.
Lynda Trenberth runs the Home Hairdressing Service and said she would be willing to travel to the Beehive to perform a haircut. She said her service meant clients did not have to worry about carparking.
Trenberth she said she would charge English $65 for a cut and was looking forward to his call.
English is Acting PM while John Key attends the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Trinidad and Tobago. Key said yesterday that he didn't know all the details about Friday's incident but was surprised the DPS had parked in a mobility zone. "It is very unlike them to break the rules."
He added that a back injury that forced English to miss Parliament last week was "giving him an awful lot of grief".
Former National Party president Michelle Boag thought it was a non-issue and asked the Herald on Sunday: "For God's sake, haven't you got better things to do? And you can quote me on that.
"The man couldn't walk, he was virtually crippled. What's the issue with him being in a mobility zone?"
But CCS Disability Action chief executive Viv Maidaborn disagreed.
As people aged, more of them suffered disabilities and needed access to mobility parks. "There will come a time when he'll get why people got so agitated about this."
STRIKE ONE: Housing allowance controversy.
STRIKE TWO: TVNZ promo blunder.
STRIKE THREE: Illegal parking for haircut.
matt.nippert@hos.co.nzm
Minister cuts it too fine
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