Auckland to clamp down on disabled park cheats

An Auckland initiative to clamp and tow cars parked illegally in disabled areas will be adopted in the rest of the country.

"The widespread abuse of accessible parking spaces has been an issue for a long time all over the country," said Chris Potts, regional manager for northern CCS disability support services.

In a CCS-supported move, the Wheel Clamping Company 2 1/2 years ago began clamping cars in South Auckland that were illegally parked in mobility carparks.

The move has since expanded to Albany and Epsom, and would go national in the coming months, said company managing director Gordon Ward.

"Warehouse Stationery in Manakau has actually built its shopping trolley catcher on top of a mobility parking space," she said. "I call police once a week to tell them to move police cars out of the disableds' [carparks].

"We're getting so much of this now. It's become a bit of a running joke."

Efforts by the Herald to contact Warehouse Stationery were unsuccessful last night.

Mr Ward's company clamps the cars and tows them if the driver does not return within 90 minutes.

"The sites we've done have had a marked improvement, cutting down abuse by two-thirds," Mr Ward said.

Ms Potts said permit-holders' feedback had been positive.

She said CCSNZ, which owns and administers the mobility card service, supported the move in a national agreement, but the operation itself was separate from CCSNZ.

"Permission comes from the shopping complex, council or whoever owns the parking area. But without our support, the initiative couldn't go ahead." The move comes after incidents such as a fortnight ago, when an Auckland District Health Board worker parked in a mobility spot.

When Barry de Geest, chairman of the board's disability support advisory committee, pointed this out, the offender told him he "couldn't give a ****". Mr de Geest said he was then given the "finger salute" and told to "get ****".

The incident was raised at a board meeting last week.

Mr de Geest said the clamping initiative was fantastic and long overdue. "Those parks are critical for disabled people - they're wide and positioned for people to access businesses and be safe."

He said he was clamped two weeks ago in Botany Downs after his mobility permit had expired, but he gladly paid the fine.