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Former Wellington Mayor Dame Kerry Prendergast has publicly confessed to having her drivers licence suspended, after clocking up demerit points for speeding.
“I’m a bit heavy on the accelerator and I’m really sorry,” the three-term former mayor admitted to Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills on air this morning.
Prendergast said she had her licence taken away just before Christmas for three months, and has since had it reinstated.
“I can tell you losing your licence for three months is very traumatic,” she said.
Prendergast said she had received various infractions for speeding over the past two years, but “didn’t notice the demerit points” accumulating, before another speeding incident before Christmas pushed her to the 100 demerit threshold for suspension of licence.
Former Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast said it was easy to put your foot down in a Tesla. Photo / Catherine Hutton
Now sitting on 60 demerit points, the former mayor said she is “just going to have to drive to the limit”.
The admission came when Prendergast was asked about a recent story in the Herald that speeding fines were skyrocketing, with 2025 having the highest number of fines issued in 15 years.
Asked by Mills how she managed to speed in her Tesla, which has multiple features to prevent speeding, she said she was “busy looking at the road and not at the big screen”.
“It’s so easy in a Tesla to put your foot down and suddenly, vroom.”
Dame Kerry Prendergast was Wellington Mayor between 2001 and 2010. Photo / Stephen A’Court
Prendergast said she had tried to keep the issue secret from some members of her family, but decided to come clean.
“Our grandchildren found out at the weekend, so I’m getting a whole heap of flak from them as well ... my husband’s going to be very upset when I go home.”
Demerit points are given for all speeding infringements except those recorded by speed camera, and remain active on a licence for two years from the date of the offence.
When 100 demerits are accumulated within a two year period the licence is suspended for three months.
She took the Wellington City Council to court over a $40 parking ticket issued when she parked her red Tesla in an area the council deemed a footpath. She won the dispute and the charges were dismissed.
Prendergast now works as a director on multiple boards in the Wellington region.
Ethan Manera is a Wellington-based journalist covering Wellington issues, local politics and business in the capital. He can be emailed at ethan.manera@nzme.co.nz.
