Countdown Hauraki Corner has done a U-turn on an initial refusal to provide CCTV footage of a woman's car getting damaged while parked at the supermarket on November 20, 2023.
Video / Supplied
The supermarket has now done a U-turn on its initial refusal to provide CCTV footage to a woman whose car was damaged.
Kelly Hamilton, of Glenfield, said she parked in the Countdown Hauraki Corner carpark about 9.30am on November 20.
Footage shows a trolley barrelling into Kelly Hamilton's car.
Hamilton does merchandising at the supermarket so is there about twice a week. About 10.30am she came out to get something from her car and noticed her boot had been dented.
When she asked Countdown management for the car park CCTV footage for her insurance company, they refused, citing privacy obligations.
It was hard “having to be laden with the [insurance] excess without it even being my fault ... $400 is a lot of money for some people,” Hamilton told the Herald.
The supermarket management told Hamilton they could not provide her with the footage, but could give it to police if an officer requested it. She then asked police to request it, but was told that police do not investigate car park incidents and that too much paperwork was required when they were already too busy with other jobs.
Countdown yesterday contacted Hamilton with a copy of the footage, telling her they would be reviewing their processes for how they manage requests for CCTV footage.
“Thank you for you patience while we found a way to best resolve this matter,” they told her, noting they would be working to “streamline” the process for people requesting footage in the future.
The footage shows another customer’s trolley rolling away while they appear to be looking in another direction. The trolley crosses the car park and slams into Hamilton’s car. The other customer then comes to retrieve the trolley.
A Countdown spokeswoman told the Herald they had blurred the footage so other customers were not identifiable, and their privacy was protected.
Kelly Hamilton's car was damaged while parked at Countdown Hauraki Corner.
Privacy Principle 11 in the act “limits the disclosure of personal information”, they said.
“In our Privacy Policy, we set out how we collect CCTV footage and what we use it for. In accordance with our Privacy Policy, we use CCTV for security, theft prevention and safety purposes and we will only disclose footage to law enforcement where we consider a crime or offence has occurred or where required by law. That does not include the sharing of footage with an individual or their insurance company for civil disputes.”
Kelly Hamilton has been fighting for the footage in hopes she can have her $400 insurance excess waived.
While the Privacy Act is vague on what the definition of “personal information” is, a spokeperson for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said if someone is identifiable in CCTV footage, it is considered personal information. It can then only be shared if one of the exceptions in the act applies.
After the supermarket changed its tune, Hamilton said the footage may help to waive her insurance excess, but that could be “another hurdle.
“I will be forwarding the email and footage I have to Tower anyway, so they can finally assess what my outcome will be, I guess.”
She was glad to get “some closure” but was disappointed Countdown had not apologised after taking two months to resolve the matter.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
