Trainee's park fine cancelled

Sophie Collis. Photo / Neville Marriner

A trainee nurse slapped with a parking fine around the same time she was just metres away paying for a ticket has had the penalty notice cancelled.

The Herald on Sunday revealed last week how Sophie Collis was stunned at being fined just two minutes after she'd bought a $3.20 permit from a pay-and-display machine at AUT campus in Northcote.

The penalty notice was issued for not displaying a valid permit, which Collis disputed. Collis, 28, from Birkenhead, challenged the $45 fine with Parking Enforcement Services, an arm of Wilson Parking.

The company wrote to her this week informing her the fine had been waived - but the firm's enforcement manager, Matt Ransom, insisted the warden was in the right and Collis did not have a valid ticket visible on her vehicle.

"On this occasion, we have decided, following consultation with AUT, to waive the breach notice."

Collis wasn't happy with the company's response. "Sure, it is good I don't have to pay but I am angry that there was no apology and the enforcement company still said I was in the wrong, and that no valid parking permit was displayed.

"I don't accept that, because my permit was in clear view and the fine was issued two minutes after I had bought it."

Following last week's story, readers emailed the Herald on Sunday with parking fine experiences.

These included drivers being fined for valid tickets being upside down on the dashboard, and for buying a permit from the wrong machine, when the nearest pay-and-display machine was out of order.