Clamping down on unpaid parking fines

Auckland City Council is supporting a Ministry of Justice initiative to clamp or seize vehicles with a large number of outstanding parking fines, to recover some of the $2.09 million owed to the council.

The council’s parking wardens will provide car registration details to the Ministry of Justice which, in turn, will consider clamping or seizing offenders’ vehicles.

This is one of many infringement recovery initiatives recently presented to the council’s Finance and Corporate Business committee.

Committee chairperson Doug Armstrong says:

“We’re a responsible council, running a tight ship and this includes having a clear policy on recovering debt. By working in partnership with the Ministry we’ll help recover millions of dollars which will go a long way towards funding projects vitally needed in the city.”

The council is also introducing new initiatives to improve the collection of infringement debts including its new computer system, recovering the full cost of towing vehicles and sending ‘gone no address’ infringements to the courts for follow up.

The Ministry of Justice has set up a new call centre in Greenlane and is working on legislative changes which will allow better access to other government databases.

“Auckland City’s parking fines are designed to ensure there is parking available for people when they need it,” says Councillor Armstrong. “If drivers are consistently ignoring the rules and not paying their fines we will eventually catch up with them.”

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