A Waikato 78-year-old says she has been stung with a parking fine for a car she never owned but can't cut through the red tape to have it removed. Photo / 123rf
A Waikato 78-year-old says she has been stung with a parking fine for a car she never owned but can't cut through the red tape to have it removed. Photo / 123rf
A Waikato grandmother says she's been pulling her hair out trying to clear her name after being stung with a parking fine issued 10 years ago for a car she never owned.
Lorraine, who didn't want her surname used, said she was shocked in March to receive a $461 fine in the mail from the Ministry of Justice.
It related to a car being parked on the side of a road, unregistered and without a valid warrant of fitness in 2011.
At first, she thought it was a case of mistaken identity.
But her shock turned to "horror" when she found it was what she called a case of stolen identity because the abandoned BMW had been registered in Auckland in 2010 using her driver's licence as ID proof.
"I'm old - well, I'm getting old - and why should they put you through this," she said.
"It's upsetting, frustrating and disheartening."
As cases of stolen identity rise in the digital age, Terry Collins, principal adviser with motoring lobby Automobile Association, said the government agencies giving Lorraine the red-tape runaround seem to be failing to apply a common-sense test.
But the Ministry of Justice said fines never expire, and it is normal practice to pursue them, even 10 years after they have been issued.
Lorraine applied to the deputy registrar of the District Courts of NZ to have her fine withdrawn but was refused. Photo / File
It also declined to discuss Lorraine's case, saying historic fines are matters chased up by the court and she will have to contact the court for any update.
"A person's fines profile, and the actions taken to collect outstanding fines, is court information," Ministry of Justice national service delivery acting group manager Jo Twist said.
After receiving the fine on March 8 this year, Lorraine immediately applied to the District Court's deputy registrar to have it withdrawn on the basis she never owned the car, but was refused.
The court's reply letter warned her to pay the fine within 10 days or risk having another $150 added.
It also warned the court could take enforcement action to recover unpaid fines, including making compulsory deductions from an income or bank account, seizing or selling property or issuing an arrest warrant.
Lorraine said she paid the fine because of the warnings, but then continued to try to clear her name.
That included seeking help from the police's Financial Crime Unit.
A reply letter from the unit seen by the Herald told Lorraine that "sadly" it was not uncommon for stolen identities to be used to register cars.
"Unfortunately, we will be unable to hold anyone to account for this due to the offending happening such a long time ago," the police officer said.
The Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency told Lorraine in a reply letter to one of her queries that the car was registered in her name at the Auckland VTNZ outlet in Glen Innes in May 2010.
An Auckland address in the suburb of Glendowie was given.
The car later lapsed into becoming unregistered but remained in Lorraine's name until the agency removed it on March 29 this year at Lorraine's request.
Waka Kotahi asked Lorraine to go to VTNZ Glen Innes to check with them what compliance and ID checks they took at the time of registering it in 2010.
But staff at VTNZ Glen Innes told her to go to the company's head office. Lorraine says she is yet to get further information.
Lorraine said she had never been contacted about the fine until March this year, probably because the car was registered to the Auckland address.
AA's Collins said normally the process to challenge fines was to not pay them and request an infringement hearing in the court.
However, if the fines have already been paid - as in Lorraine's case - the only way to clear them is to go to the agency that issued them in the first place.
Yet because the fine was so old, even this was not straight-forward, Lorraine said.
In 2010, there were multiple councils managing parking across Auckland, including the now-defunct Auckland City Council.
Auckland Transport had since taken over the role of managing city parking. But it didn't have access to old parking records issued by Auckland City Council.
An AT spokesman told the Herald they would have to take legal advice over who was responsible for Lorraine's fine before potentially looking into it.
Lorraine remains determined to clear her name.
She had never set foot outside the law in 78 years and didn't intend to start now, she said.
