Rotorua parking wardens assaulted and abused nearly 20 times within past five years

Around $1.8 million was generated from parking fines across five years in Rotorua. Photo / Stephen Parker

One person was so irate at a Rotorua parking warden they tried to run them down, and another person was arrested after assaulting a warden.

Both incidents took place between the start of 2015 and the end of 2020, data released by Rotorua Lakes Council under the Official Information Act showed.

The person who drove at the warden missed and the event was classed as a near miss but police later arrested the person who assaulted a warden by shoving them.

Over the same timeframe, wardens were verbally abused on 18 occasions.

Council operations group manager Jocelyn Mikaere said any threat or assault of wardens was "absolutely unacceptable".

"Everybody has the right to go about their jobs safely and without [the] threat of abuse or assault.

Rotorua Lakes Council operations group manager Jocelyn Mikaere. Photo / Andrew Warner

"Where appropriate, incidents are reported to the police, and existing protocols are reviewed and revised if necessary to further minimise risk to people's safety.

"Frontline staff are trained in how to deal with situations that have the potential to escalate and/or where they or other members of the public are, or feel, under threat."

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The council's parking system and enforcement services are managed by contracting agent i-Park on behalf of the council.

Parking fines in Rotorua over the five-year period generated about $1.8 million in revenue with the CBD a hotspot for fines.

Vehicles parked on Eruera St collected the most fines across the five years - a whopping 6792. That's more than 1300 fines each year.

Hinemoa St followed with 5460 and Pukaki St closely behind with 5159.

A total of 168,840 fines were handed out over the five-year period. The most from a single year was 35,162 in 2017.

Last year, slightly more than 23,000 parking fines were dished out by wardens.

Meanwhile, the council received plenty of complaints about on-street parking over the timeframe with 3052 lodged over the five years. Only one vehicle was towed.

Mikaere said there were a number of reasons why parking fines were consistently issued.

"Some people make the choice not to pay for parking in paid parking areas, a smaller number use the parking system incorrectly, and sometimes people overstay their time limit for a variety of reasons.

"However, the majority of people using the parking system do so successfully and without incident."

Revenue generated from fines went back into CBD operations like the parking system and upkeep of car parks throughout the city, among other things, Mikaere said.

A parking machine in Rotorua's CBD. Photo / Andrew Warner

Elsewhere, there were 15 cases of people verbally abusing Tauranga wardens in 2020 alone — more than three times the previous high of four cases in 2017.

There were also cases of wardens being assaulted in the years 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Tauranga City Council parking officer Stuart, who asked that his last name not be published, last week thought the pandemic could be to blame.

"Times are changing, people are stressed out there and spending their dollars elsewhere. It's a hard time out there with Covid-19 and people losing their jobs.

"We feel for those people but there are still certain laws and regulations that people need to follow. Most of the time encounters are positive.

"In an ideal world, we wouldn't have a job. If everybody behaved, I'd be unemployed."