Former Wellington mayor fights $40 parking ticket in court

Former Wellington Mayor Dame Kerry Prendergast has gone to court to challenge a $40 council parking ticket, saying there are no signs indicating you can’t park where she did.

Prendergast arrived at the Wellington District Court yesterday prepared for the hearing before a Justice of the Peace (JP) disputing the ticket for parking on a footpath, which was issued on the evening of January 30.

In a statement prepared for the court, Pendergast said she parked her car on a paved section of slip-road between Dixon and Ghuznee Sts. There are no markings, signs or notices to notify drivers that parking is not allowed on the roadway. She said she is disputing the ticket because the area is totally ambiguous, and she contends she didn’t park on the footpath.

When NZME visited, it couldn’t see any clear signage indicating people couldn’t park there, except for a large yellow no parking sign painted on the road adjacent to where Prendergast parked. Despite the lack of signage, there appeared to be a clear distinction between the footpath and the roadway. Two other cars were also parked in the spot Prendergast had parked in and a passing parking warden said they issued lots of tickets in those spaces.

Prendergast, who was mayor of Wellington between 2001 and 2010, told the court she felt "uncharacteristically nervous", having never been to court before.

However, the hearing didn’t proceed, because the JP who was scheduled to hear the case had fallen ill and former broadcaster Hewitt Humphrey was called in.

Humphrey immediately told the court he couldn’t hear the case because he personally knew Prendergast.

"You don’t think you could be objective and do it today?" Prendergast asked, only to be told that wouldn’t be appropriate, before Humphrey adjourned the case until October.

Outside court, Prendergast expressed disappointment at the delay, saying she had done a lot of preparation for the hearing and was confident she hadn’t parked on the footpath.

She also questioned why the council was throwing such resources at a case – including preparing three briefs of evidence, calling two witnesses and sending a lawyer to court – for such a small amount of money.

Prendergast’s husband Rex Nicholls also prepared a statement for the court suggesting the council was gaining unfair income by issuing tickets in an area that was ambiguous for drivers.

He suggested two alternatives – both of which were cheaper than defending the case against his wife. Either paint or erect no-parking signs in the area or allow people to park there.

In a statement, Wellington City Council said it is normal practice for the council to have (in-house) legal representation when a parking ticket is challenged in court.

It said it wasn’t able to provide a response in time as to what attempts it had made to improve signage in the area in the six months since Prendergast’s parking ticket was issued.

In 2019, Dunedin City councillor Lee Vandervis was issued a $12 parking ticket, sparking a long legal battle that he ultimately lost.

His legal fight included a judicial review, an appeal to the Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case.

The Dunedin City Council was reported to have spent more than $100,000 on the case.

By Catherine Hutton