DCC denies Mosgiel has parking problem

A Mosgiel man says  motorists are "blatantly" ignoring parking restrictions in the suburb and the Dunedin City Council is failing to deploy enough parking officers to patrol the area.

But the council says officers patrol the suburb, as they do elsewhere  in the city.

Alistair Finnie, of Mosgiel, said the ‘‘bad habits’’ of  motorists parking in Mosgiel included. —

● Parking all day on broken yellow lines in Gladstone Rd South.

● Cars parking on spaces designated for motorcycles.

● Motorists exceeding the time allowed in restricted parks,  such as P5, P30 and P60.

● Parking across footpaths, sometimes overnight.

"My main concern is for pedestrians who find the footpath blocked by an illegally parked car, which forces them on to the road to get past — this creates a major safety issue."

Some of these pedestrians affected  were using walking frames, in wheelchairs or on mobility scooters, he said.

He wanted parking officers to patrol Mosgiel more often.

"If I am not mistaken, the population on the Taieri is about 16% of the population of Dunedin’s metropolitan area.  Proportionately, our area is not well served by the council’s parking services."

Council compliance, animal and parking services team leader Peter Hanlin said complaints received by the council did not suggest Mosgiel had more of an issue with poor parking behaviour than other areas.

Parking officers did  not have set operating hours in Mosgiel, but  carried out random checks and responded promptly to complaints. Mr Hanlin invited  people with concerns about illegal parking to contact the council.