KEY POINTS:
Where White Swan Rd meets Richardson Rd in Mt Roskill, there's a tow-away sign relating to the public parking outside the shops, which all appear to belong to an emporium. Can this be legal? Surely the roads belong to the public rather than the shop owners. It is very inconvenient to people who choose to shop in the vicinity and cannot find a parking spot. How did this come about? Is the council selling off pieces of our roads now?
Colleen Vincent, Lynfield.
The vigilant parking people at Auckland City Council tell me that this is actually private property. The boundary line for the property clearly shows vehicles parked within it.
The issue is that road-widening work to allow for a left-turn lane removed the footpath. This left the impression that this is public land.
The owners of the property have every right to have vehicles towed from their land and can employ a towing contractor to do it on their behalf.
The council has no jurisdiction over private land in these sorts of matters unless it receives a request in writing from the property owner.
And another parking question. So nice to have a theme:
Are courier cars, vans and large trucks entitled to park on the footpath outside the Auckland Regional Council building in Hopetoun St? Often the footpath is totally blocked. There is a formed entrance way from the road to the footpath to make things even easier for the drivers. Why do they not use the delivery area at the rear of the building?
Another one:
Car transport trucks frequently park on dotted yellow lines in the Penrose area to offload used Japanese imports. Are these trucks exempt? I would have thought businesses expecting such deliveries would have to prove to the council that they had the necessary off-road space to take care of this. Fairfax Ave, Olive Rd, Walls Rd and Greenpark Rd are particularly bad. Does the council ever send its parking wardens to deal with these matters?
Phil Maxwell, Ponsonby.
Oh yes, they certainly do. In fact, parking staff are frequently called out to just such incidents across the isthmus, and they most definitely enforce council parking bylaws.
Vehicles are not permitted to park on footpaths, but there are some exceptions. These include on-duty police, Armed Offenders Squad vehicles, emergency vehicles, armoured cars unloading goods (money, presumably), and, surprisingly, vehicles carrying plate glass to a construction site.
The latter is a health and safety issue.
There are designated loading zones for goods service vehicles across the city. If these are blocked, commercial vehicles have the right to double park in front of the zone to load or unload goods. This is managed on a case-by-case basis, and if there is a traffic or safety issue commercial vehicles may be asked to move.
And you are right in regard to the car transporters. The car yard should have made provision in the consent process, and again these trucks may be moved on if there is a traffic or safety issue.
But the council is not in the business of impeding commerce, so parking officers are allowed to use their discretion when moving vehicles on.
