Dairy owner, Nirmala Singh, has installed a 'do not park' sign outside her business on St Georges Road in Avondale. / Jason Oxenham
An Auckland dairy owner has been forced to make her own cardboard sign to ward off rogue parkers after her and her family were the target of violent and aggressive customers from local businesses.
Sick of the 10-minute parking zone outside their store being abused by motorists, the family decided to police the parking spot themselves.
But they didn't count on such nasty responses from people they threatened to have towed.
Super Save Food Mart in Avondale has had problems for months with non-customers illegally taking up its parking spaces for more than two hours at a time, despite it being a 10-minute zone.
The growing issue has forced the shop owners to make their own sign that reads "Please note, 10 min parking at all times" which has angered those who try to park there for a lengthy period of time.
The problem has reached boiling point, with store owner Mirmala Singh saying a handful of altercation has led to her feeling unsafe.
"They argue with us and tell us we don't have a right to stop them parking here," Mirmala told the Herald.
"When we explain it is the law they get violent and argue with us and say 'you can't stop us'. If my husband or son aren't there then I go back inside to keep myself safe. They make excuses and get aggressive, but we don't want any more trouble."
Nirmala Singh, left, and Balvindar Singh, Super Saver Food Dairy owners on St Georges Road in Avondale have erected their own 10 minute parking sign. Photo / Jason Oxenham
In one incident on Tuesday, a bemused driver told the Herald he was off to the movies and parked outside the Super Save Food Mart at 8pm.
He claims the store owner came charging out with his homemade parking sign, becoming aggressive and threatening to tow his car when he challenged the dairy over the laws, believing he could park there for more than 10 minutes after 8pm.
However, according to Auckland Transport, the council's 10-minute parking limit sign outside the dairy is in force 24 hours a day and does not end after any particular time.
A spokesperson told the Herald that while people cannot park there for more than 10 minutes, no matter what time of the day, the dairy owner has no right to tow cars outside the store and must instead contact Auckland Transport regarding the issue first.
The parking dilemma has been going on for months according to the dairy owner's son, Balvindar Singh, who said other local stores have also been impacted by rogue motorists.
Owner Mirmala Singh explained that the movie theatre down the road always informs them of upcoming events, but that hasn't stopped people from abusing the dairy's parking space.
She told the Herald many of those that park in the 10-minute zone outside the dairy know they're in the wrong and are sneaking away which is impacting their income.
"They are off watching the movies at a local cinema but they ignore our right to have parking spaces outside our dairy so we can do business.
"We made our own parking sign because people aren't obeying the council ones.
"Sometimes they briefly come inside and then they sneak out to the movies [leaving their car in the 10 min parking zone for two hours].
"We only have one or two people working in the shop so we can't be standing outside to organise parking, that's why we have a sign.
"When they park here and go to the movies for two hours our business suffers. No parking, no customers. We really need something to change. When people park and leave during the weekends and evenings that's our busiest times and it impacts us.
"We have customers that have to park far away, and we end up losing them. We have elderly regulars who use our store and they need the parking out the front of the shop.
"We want to have easy access for our regular customers, not people who are here to go to the movies down the road."
