There is a smashed car parked on the road outside my house. It was damaged in an accident well over a month ago. It is parked in the middle of the space, so if another car wants to park behind or in front of it, they do not have sufficient room to clear either of the driveways properly.
I originally phoned the council and they asked that I checked with police that it wasn't stolen. It wasn't. They came to clean up the glass but said the car would take a while to deal with. I phoned back and they said that they will not be able to tow the car until its warrant has expired, which is not until October. It has clearly been abandoned, the owners haven't even cleared the glass up from inside of the car and the interior gets wet when it rains.
Is there anything that can be done? A smashed car that isn't parked straight, creating an eyesore and taking up valuable car spaces (yellow lines before my driveway prevent visitors parking there as well). Trina Miller, Auckland.
Auckland Transport is your best bet. If the car has not been reported stolen, the police are unable to help, as you now know. If it appears the car has been abandoned, Auckland Transport is responsible for its removal. However, the process to legally declare a vehicle as abandoned can take weeks and it cannot be removed until that process is complete, unless there is an immediate safety concern. If anyone expresses interest in the vehicle during this process, the vehicle cannot be declared abandoned.
New signs have appeared in Palmer St and Pulham Rd, Warkworth, and on the highways to Mangawhai, and Dargaville which do not appear in the road code or in the list of New Zealand road signs in Wikipedia. They have a green background with a red shield and a white arrow which may be up, down or horizontal. Usually the sign is vertical and often on both sides of the road, but sometimes it is horizontal and only on one side of the road. They look a bit like state highway signs without the numbers, or detour signs, but Palmer St is not a state highway. Detour signs are on an orange background with black arrows and are classed as Construction/Temporary warning. These signs are permanently mounted and there is no obvious reason for there to be a detour. Can you please find out what their purpose is? Neville Fursdon, Warkworth.
