Wheelchair user has parking fine quashed

Mr Winson is a civil engineer who lost both legs above the knee after a gas explosion in Onehunga in 2011. Photo / Dean Purcell

Double-amputee Ian Winson has had a fine quashed after he parked his large wheelchair-hoist van diagonally across two spaces at an Auckland shopping mall.

WestCity mall owner Westfield says it has also asked Wilson Parking to remind enforcement staff to be more aware of customer service priorities, and to check with mall staff if they notice unusual-looking vehicles parked incorrectly.

Mr Winson, a civil engineer who lost both legs above the knee after a gas explosion in Onehunga in 2011, which killed fellow Watercare employee Philomen Gulland, was slapped with a $50 parking breach notice while shopping with his family at Henderson's Westfield WestCity mall on Saturday.

He says he parked the van across two normal car spaces, as all ground-floor disability spaces were occupied and most would have been too narrow for him to operate his wheelchair hoist, for which a side clearance of 3m is needed.

The van, standing at 2.4m high, is ACC-approved and has a notice on its side asking others to keep clear as well as a windscreen disability sticker.

Westfield spokeswoman Deb McGhie said this morning that the mall manager was "very upset" that Mr Winson had received the breach notice, but her company had been advised by Wilson subsidiary Parking Enforcement Services (PES) that it had been rescinded.

She said she would try to contact Mr Winson to apologise for the extra stress caused to him and his family, and that the parking company had assured Westfield it would use the case to remind its staff of the need to make customer service a priority.

Ian Winson with his wife Katherine and sons Joshua and Ethan. Photo / Richard Robinson

"PES are going out to see all their parking monitors to talk about this -- it is a perfect example of what shouldn't happen," Ms McGhie told the Herald.

"We would like to apologise first thing -- if we added distress to his family's outing, we don't like to do that."

She said enforcement staff would be reminded to check with mall managers before issuing breach notices to any unusual-looking vehicles parked incorrectly.

"We would say, please don't breach that -- it's obviously there for a reason.

"Our centre manager was obviously upset that there's a customer who shouldn't have been breached, who should have been brought to our attention, and that's something we have asked PES to put into their training again."

A spokeswoman for Parking Enforcement Services confirmed that the notice was cancelled this morning and said it had written to Mr Winson and his wife, Katherine, to apologise for issuing it.

"Parking Enforcement Services apologises for the distress caused to Ian and his family during what should have been an enjoyable day out for them," she said.

The spokeswoman said the infringement notice was issued for a breach of terms and conditions of parking, but company procedures required the enforcement officer concerned to contact the mall manager first.

"Management would then have instructed that the vehicle not be issued with a breach notice," she said.

"We have addressed this internally with the officer concerned and reiterated this standard operating procedure with all our staff."

Mr Winson said he was pleased, on behalf of other disabled people as well as himself, that the matter had been addressed but was irked by an earlier suggestion by Ms McGhie to the Herald that he may wish to phone the mall before visiting it in future so arrangements could be made for his van.

"That's the most impractical thing I've ever heard in my life, and it takes away the spontaneity of just stopping in at the mall."

Ms McGhie said she had raised the idea simply as an added option "to make sure we designated an area for him to park".

Westfield also provided permits for people requiring special parking and logged their vehicle registration numbers in its database to confirm any such arrangement.