Editorial: Mayor should have paid up

As mayor of the country's largest city, all eyes are often on Len Brown. Photo: Jason Oxenham

Look, he's not from up this way, so you may ask why we should care?

Len Brown, mayor of the Auckland "Super City", has escaped paying a fine after parking in a loading bay.

A witness had snapped a picture of Brown's chauffeur-driven car parked in a loading bay in Newmarket on August 6.

But according to Councillor Cameron Brewer, Len has escaped on a technicality, there was only photographic evidence, nothing first-hand.

Brown's press secretary, Glyn Jones, has said: "The mayor expects to be treated the same way as any other Aucklander and AT has been reminded of that."

So here we have a situation where a parking warden didn't spot Len's vehicle, so he doesn't get a ticket. But he broke the parking law.

As mayor of the country's largest city, all eyes are often on Len. But what does it say about a civic leader who attracts national attention, that he can't put his hand up and say "you got me, I shouldn't haven't been there, I'll pay the fine".

Surely paying up - it's Auckland so who knows what it would cost - is a far lesser price than the dent in Len's integrity for what many will perceive as weaseling out of a parking fine.

An early guilty plea and paying the fine would have been the right way to go, and would have set a good example for other leaders around the country too.