Taxi driver sleuth battles council over parking fines

An Auckland taxi driver who claims he was issued tickets by a warden with a chip on his shoulder has taken Auckland City Council to court to get the fines quashed.

Plamen Borisov Florov appeared in the High Court in Auckland today to appeal a District Court decision that ruled a ticket was justifiably issued.

Mr Florov, a driver for VIP Cabs, claims he was issued seven parking violation tickets by the same warden in one year, compared with the three or four tickets he usually received.

"I believe I have been targeted by this parking warden," he said.

"I don't know where to hide from him, I've changed my car, all sorts of things."

The warden was also a part-time taxi driver and Mr Florov put to the court that this constituted a conflict of interest.

Mr Florov had starting carrying a camera around with him and had taken pictures of the warden's taxi parked on broken yellow lines, and illegally parked in a taxi rank while he was getting money from an ATM.

"Take more pictures my friend, I'll write you more tickets," the warden is reported to have told Mr Florov on one of these occasions.

The appeal before the court involved a ticket issued when Mr Florov picked a young woman up in the central city at 3am and took her to Parnell.

On the way he stopped on Customs St so she could pick up the key to her flat, briefly parking at a bus stop while he waited. During this time the warden issued a ticket.

"A young girl, at three o'clock in the morning, under the influence of alcohol, I can't help her?"

There was a clause in the Land Transport Agency's handbook for taxi drivers that said it was legal for taxi drivers to stop in places like bus stops if they were waiting for passengers who had already hired the taxi, he said.

Mr Florov also gave evidence that the number of taxis able to park at an adjoining taxi rank differed from the number on the council's website.

"I was legally parked, according to the website," he said.

He had spent over $100 on photocopying and printing evidence for the case and written letters to Land Transport New Zealand, the media and the mayor appealing for them to do something about the warden, and the way taxi drivers were so often unfairly ticketed.

The lawyer representing Auckland City Council, Teresa Mayo, said it was irrelevant whether it had been the same parking warden who had issued the tickets.

"The matter at issue is that he was wrongfully parked at a bus stop," she said.

But Judge Ailsa Duffy said she was concerned the District Court had not considered that there may be exceptions to this rule.

"The fact of the matter is when I look at the streets around the city there are very few places that are empty so the only way a taxi could let a person on or drop them off may be to stop at any place that is free, or double park," she said.

Judge Duffy praised Mr Florov, who comes from Bulgaria where he was a tank driver in the army, for the way he had presented his case.

"For someone who is not used to appearing in this court you have done very well," she said.

She reserved her decision.

Mr Florov has a further three convictions for similar offences that he would be appealing.

- NZPA