Parliament protest: Hundreds of parking fines yet to be paid; all towed vehicles released

Vehicles parked in the central city during the protest. Photo / George Heard

The anti-mandate protest at Parliament is well and truly over, but Wellington City Council is still chasing 582 unpaid parking tickets from the event.

Protesters occupied Parliament's grounds for 23 days during February and March. They blocked several streets, disrupting businesses and the lives of Wellingtonians.

Since it was all brought to an end, protesters have apparently been more proactive about getting back the 46 vehicles police towed than paying their parking tickets.

Tow trucks were available to deploy at short notice within their normal hours of operation during the occupation.

Police confirmed towed vehicles were left at a public location and owners were notified. As of the beginning of this month, all of the vehicles had been picked up by their respective owners.

Parking wardens issued 615 tickets in total with police at their side during the days protesters took over Molesworth St and surrounding roads.

Vehicles parked on the footpath were slapped with $40 fines and those parked on broken yellow lines were issued with $60 fines. Tickets were also issued on the grounds of "parking inconsiderately".

Council spokeswoman Victoria Barton-Chapple said 26 tickets have been appealed.

"In most cases the grounds cited by a number of appellants relate to their view that they were unable to move their vehicle at the time they were infringed as they were 'parked in' by other vehicles that were also illegally or inconsiderately parked."

Wellington City Council parking wardens, escorted by police, issuing tickets to protesters. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Just 33 of the 615 parking tickets have been paid.

Barton-Chapple said it wasn't an unusual number of outstanding fines at this stage of the parking ticket life cycle.

Payment is due 28 days after a ticket is issued and the protest at Parliament was brought to an end more than a month ago.

But if a ticket isn't paid within the initial 28-day timeframe, the vehicle owner is issued a reminder notice and given a further 28 days to pay.

Barton-Chapple said after this period unpaid tickets may be referred to a debt collection agency.

"If payment is still not made, the infringement may then be referred to the Ministry of Justice, where debt collection is managed by the courts with any additional collection costs also charged to the owner of the vehicle."

If people were having difficulty paying the infringement by the due date, they could contact the council to discuss payment options, Barton-Chapple said.