Fines are not all fine

Wilson Parking offers a 10-minute 'grace' period. Photo / Greg Bowker

If you receive a $65 fine from a carparking company for being late back to your vehicle, think twice about paying it.

That's the advice from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs which is about to put a form on its website to make it easy for people to challenge such fines.

International carparking giant Wilson has a grace period of 10 minutes for people who are late back to their vehicles at its sites across New Zealand.

But, if you exceed that, you are served with a $65 infringement notice.

You have 14 days to appeal it but, if you then refuse to pay within 21 days, another $20 is added. After 30 days, debt collection proceedings can be issued. Your vehicle may also go on a hit list and is likely to be clamped if you park at Wilson again.

However, Consumer Affairs senior adviser Joanne Kearney said there was a principle of contract law which forbade penalties for breaching a contract.

"The carpark is entitled to recover costs but it has to be reasonable and relate to actual costs," she said. A sample form will go on the ministry's website for motorists to contest any infringement fee with carparking companies.

She said people should at first refuse to pay the $65 fine using its website form. If a carparking company persisted with wanting payment, people should go to the Disputes Tribunal. "People have been successful in taking it to the Disputes Tribunal but it costs $30 to do that," she said.

"Where it appears the fine is punitive rather than reimbursing the carparking company's costs, you can challenge it."

The ministry was keeping a "watching brief" but could only enforce product safety, weights and measures and misleading and deceptive conduct.

"Consumer law in New Zealand is self-enforcing so it is up to the consumer to enforce their rights themselves," she said.

Journalist Rebecca Milne, 28, said even though she was outraged after being charged $65 for being 10 minutes late for her car at Wilson's Princes Wharf carpark in Auckland, she paid up.

The fine print, saying debt collection proceedings would start if she didn't pay, had swayed her into coughing up.

"I don't expect to have to pay $65 to be 10 minutes late. It's disgusting," she said.

She arrived at 12.29pm and paid $12.50 to park for an hour and a half.

Wilson Parking New Zealand chief executive Steve Evans defended the fine.

"As parking is at a premium, Wilson Parking obviously needs to provide disincentives for people who exceed the established time limits at each location, both to allow fair access to parking for everyone and to ensure that the owners of the property are receiving the fair 'rent' on their facility," he said.

"If a customer breaches the terms and conditions of parking with us, Wilson Parking is able to issue a breach notice. The breach notices issued are not a fine nor are they a penalty."

He disagreed with Consumer Affairs' interpretation of contract law.

"Wilson Parking retrieves payment with accepted principles of contract law. This has been tested and emphatically upheld on many occasions by the Disputes Tribunal."