Persistence wins fines dispute

Jeri Knight. Photo / Vision Media

Jeri Knight might be 80 years old but it didn't stop her beating the might of the Manukau City Council over a wrongly issued car warrant of fitness fine.

But it took the pensioner six months of fighting and correspondence with government departments. Knight was fined $200 by a Manukau parking warden for not having a current warrant of fitness on her Nissan Micra, which she had parked at the Pakuranga Westfield Shopping Centre. It had a legal warrant.

She also got a $200 fine for not having registration. She had overlooked that when she had lent her car to her daughter. So she took that fine on the chin and coughed up.

But she was not going to pay the warrant of fitness fine. She phoned and sent letters to the council to no avail.

"They passed me from one department to another saying they couldn't deal with it. So of course I didn't pay the fine as it wasn't correct," said Knight, who is from Katikati near Tauranga.

In November she was informed that the matter of the unpaid fine was now in the hands of the Wellington District Court - with a $130 penalty added on top.

She contacted the department in writing and explained there had been an error made by the Manukau council parking officer.

In December she received a letter from the district court saying $25 a week would be deducted from her pension to pay off the $330 fine.

Angry, she decided to try a different tactic - emailing the authorities.

Within a few weeks she got a response from the Ministry of Justice, seeking more information about Knight's insistence that her warrant of fitness was current.

In February, Knight received a letter from the Ministry of Social Development saying they had stopped her automatic payments for the fine. A few days later the ministry sent her an email saying her complaint had been resolved.

She was refunded the $250 she had already paid.

Knight said what she had been through was unbelievable. "It seemed so wrong - the fact they were able to take money from my pension.

"I personally feel they at least owe me an apology.

"They seem to pick on people who are not likely to fight back."

Ministry of Justice district courts manager Tony Fisher said the issuing authority (such as city councils) and the court had processes to help people who want to challenge a fine.