Herald on Sunday editorial: Wardens prowl for the council in the dark

We should not be surprised to discover the Auckland Council has parking wardens prowling the streets as we sleep, ticketing cars for revenue. Photo / Doug Sherring

Opinion

City councils would dearly like a new source of revenue. They are forever asking Governments for an alternative to property rates, or at least an addition to them. Governments are not convinced. So perhaps we should not be surprised to discover the Auckland Council has parking wardens prowling the streets as we sleep, ticketing cars for revenue.

It can only be for revenue. The cars can't be obstructing traffic or committing other offences at times such as 2am when the tickets are being issued. If they are parked on the verge or, heaven forbid, facing the wrong way, does it matter at that time of the morning?

The vehicles may spend the day in company carparks or other places not as accessible as the street to traffic wardens but even so, it is strange to go checking their registrations and warrants of fitness in the small hours. Creepy, even. Who wants a warden peering around the car out front of a house where the owners are asleep?

We report today that the council's "night team" of 10 full time staff collected half a million dollars last year. That averages $50,000 each over the year, which surely does not cover the costs of employing them. But, as we also report, much more is expected from them. Auckland Transport (AT) has budgeted for $31.9 million from parking fines this financial year.

At $40 a fine that is nearly 800,000 tickets, or one for every driver in the region. AT, the overseer of the city's public transport, might be on a mission to make the private car a less attractive option but street patrols at the dead of night goes too far.

It seems dangerous for the wardens for one thing. They normally work alone. The function they perform is not a popular one and perhaps they are as happy to do it at an hour when they are less likely to be confronted by the owner of a car they have just ticketed, but the risks they could face after dark seem worse.

Parking wardens serve the public interest by ensuring the limited car parking on streets is allocated to those who have paid for it, and for no longer than they have paid for it. They back up parking meters. The irony is that the meters relax at night. After a stated hour in the evening they let you park until dawn for a nominal amount.

The wardens working Auckland's inner city streets at all hours of the night are not simply enforcing parking charges. They are looking for about 15 other offences, none of which require urgent policing overnight. The wardens are looking for the likes of lapsed licensing fees.

It is just one example of the revenue councils are now reaping from their regulatory powers. But this one is particularly sneaky.