Adoro Cafe owner Paul Greaves has organised to pay a parking fine imposed on Lions tour supporters in Napier. Photo/Paul Taylor
Adoro Cafe owner Paul Greaves has organised to pay a parking fine imposed on Lions tour supporters in Napier. Photo/Paul Taylor
Napier cafe owner Paul Greaves and some regular customers have stepped in to pay a parking fine dished out to visiting Lions campervanners Dave and Viv Perry.
The owner of Adoro Cafe said he wanted to counter the negative publicity Napier may have picked up after the couple wereslapped with a $200 fine for parking outside the designated campervan parks at the Perfume Point reserve this week.
The couple said the rest of the parking area was vacant and they were stunned when a council-contracted parking officer knocked on their hired campervan early in the morning to present the fine.
"We want to turn the negative (for them) into a positive," Greaves said, adding that he and many visitors to the cafe in the Dickens and Hastings streets corner site once the entrance to the Napier Post Office were upset at the way the visitors had been treated.
"They should have just been given a warning," he said.
Greaves said he had planned to pay the entire fine himself but several local businesspeople had put $20 in as well.
"We have had a lot of Lions supporters come through here and they have been great," he said. "We want to give them a good stay in Napier."
Greaves, who came from Sydney with wife Jane and bypassed the traffic blues of Auckland to open a cafe in the Napier CBD in 2008, said several local business people who often called in for a coffee had spoken about helping the fined couple out, so the money was gathered up and would be passed to the council's fines department.
The Perrys had said they would not pay the fine as they did not believe it was fair their campervan was targeted.
Acouncil spokesman said there were several available designated sites in other parts of the city. Had the couple decided to go and see the council to discuss it cancelling the fine that may have been considered but they had chosen not to.
The fine was to have been passed on to the hire company and added to the couple's costs.
"No, we'll pay the fine for them," Greaves said. ""Have to look after your visitors."
