KEY POINTS:
Hundreds of people may have been fined illegally because parking wardens have been incorrectly ticketing motorists for parking too close to intersections.
That's the view of lawyer Jim Smylie after he won a court case against the Tauranga City Council over the distance he parked from an intersection. Mr Smylie parked his wife's Peugeot 206 convertible on a small portion of grass at the intersection of Cameron Rd and McLean St in front of Tauranga's courthouse last November.
He left the car and went to work in the court building.
When he returned he found he had been given a $60 ticket for parking within 6m of an intersection.
The bylaw is in place so people turning from one street or road into another don't have their vision blocked by a parked car.
Mr Smylie investigated and found parking wardens were measuring the distance incorrectly.
He used photographs parking wardens had taken of his car to show how far he was parked from the intersection.
The wardens measured from the edge of the kerb and subsequently alleged he was 5m from the intersection.
But under the Land Transport New Zealand road user rules, they should have measured from the point beyond the kerb at which imaginary boundary lines from each roadway meet - making him 7.5m from the intersection.
This is technically called the point of prolongation.
"It is a little bit complicated but once you've got, you've got it," said Mr Smylie.
When he discovered this he decided to take the matter to court.
He appeared in Tauranga District Court on April 17 this year. After the evidence was heard the charges were dismissed.
Mr Smylie said he didn't mind getting tickets as long as the law was followed. But he questioned the legality of wardens issuing them if they were using the law incorrectly.
"The law is very clear. By doing something that is outside the law they are illegally taking money off the public," he said.
Mr Smylie was able to fight the case without having to incur much in the way of legal fees.
His friend Trever Leigh, a barrister, helped him defend the case for free.
For anyone else, however, it would have been a different story.
"We were in court for about four hours so at $200 an hour you're looking at $800 and that's without any preparation time," Mr Smylie said. "It would cost at least $1000 to defend it."
Mr Smylie received another ticket two weeks after the original incident for the same thing.
This time he was on a different street and in a different car - he reckons he was 8m from the intersection for the second ticket.
"I will be writing to council asking them to withdraw the charge.
"If they don't I will certainly be taking them to court," he said.
Kevin Nally, team leader for Tauranga City Council Parking, said he had talked to parking wardens as a result of Mr Smylie's court case.
They have now been instructed to measure the 6m from the point of prolongation, not the edge of the kerb.
Mr Nally said wardens were now using measuring tapes to ensure accuracy.
Previously, they were estimating the distance.
"With any new [infringements] we will have to go with the decision of the court."
Mr Nally said the council would review any tickets that came under question as a result of the court's ruling.
"We are happy to look at any tickets that people write in about."
-NZPA
