Auckland Transport says the value of general parking fines has not risen for 15 years. Photo / File
Auckland Transport says the value of general parking fines has not risen for 15 years. Photo / File
Auckland Transport, which dished out more than $10 million in parking fines last year, wants the Government to let it come down more heavily on non-compliant motorists.
The council agency suggests in a new parking strategy that the value of fines is too low to discourage motorists from risking notpaying for park and ride coupons, or exceeding the time on them.
It says it will lobby the Government for an increase in a scale which has been unchanged since 1999.
But the Automobile Association accuses it of springing its fines push without having disclosed its intent in an earlier discussion document put out for public submissions.
Fines in Auckland start at the Government's prescribed maximum of $12 for the first 30 minutes of unpaid parking, rising to $57 for more than six hours.
Those issued in the 2013-14 financial year amounted to $10.1 million, on top of fines of $23 million for unregistered vehicles or lapsed warrants of fitness.
Auckland Transport says the value of general parking fines has not risen for 15 years and Australia's evaders are charged up to eight times more.
An exception has been an almost quadrupling in 2008 of the fine for parking in a mobility space without a disability permit, from $40 to $150.
