Ask Phoebe: Squeezed residents have no right to grouch over 'carpark theft'

If the street is an unrestricted street, then any registered / warranted motor vehicle may park within the street. Photo / File

I have lived in an inner city heritage villa area (Grey Lynn) for 30 years. Most people in the area have no off-street parking. In the past there has been no problem. But in the past year, people from outer suburbs - who undoubtedly have off-street parking at home - are now parking in our street and effectively "stealing" our carparks. Many days we have nowhere to park. What are our rights and what can we do? David Robie, Grey Lynn.

If the street is an unrestricted street, then any registered / warranted motor vehicle may park within the street. If the street has any time restrictions imposed, all vehicles using the street must comply with the restrictions. If your street has no legacy residents' parking programmes, then the street is open to all motorists.

In general, you do not own the road outside your house, and have no say over who parks there.

Some areas of the city fringe have residents' parking programmes. In these areas, some parking spaces are reserved for residents between certain hours.

St Marys Bay has a new residents' parking programme that is working very well. Auckland Transport is looking at a number of new resident parking initiatives. The next one will be in Freemans Bay.

I would appreciate your comments on the legality of parking in the enlarged head of a cul de sac which is unmarked as to any specific parking restriction.

The issue arises when cars are parked, sometimes even angle parked, in such a way that the head of the cul de sac cannot be used for its intended purpose: to turn a vehicle preparatory to exiting said cul de sac. A reasonably detailed search on the web has surprisingly shed little light on this topic which must be a frequent issue. Raiffe Thoreau, Auckland.

Within a cul de sac there will be a range of driveway entrances normally coming out of the cul de sac head. You may not park closer than a metre from the line of each driveway, front and rear of the car. This should enable space around the head of the cul de sac. In areas that have caused concern, broken yellow lines have been painted to restrict parking. If the activity is causing a concern with a vehicle blocking access to a driveway, or congesting the turning head, then please dial (09) 355 3553 and request an officer to attend. The officer can then pass relevant information on to road safety or design.

My wife says that the speed limit in built-up areas is 50km/h with an allowance of 10km/h. I say the allowance is 5km/h. Which of us is correct? Phil Adrian, Mt Roskill.

According to the police website, the speed limit for cars is 50km/h on urban roads, unless signs say otherwise.

If you are caught by a police officer or speed camera driving more than 10km/h over the limit, you can expect to be issued a ticket. In some circumstances, you are liable to get a speeding ticket if you drive more than 4km/h over the limit: in school zones - within 250m of school and preschool boundaries - and during official holiday periods.