Former Wellington mayor challenges $40 parking ticket

Former Wellington mayor Dame Kerry Prendergast will have to wait to find out if she’s successfully challenged a $40 parking ticket that was issued by the city council.

Prendergast, who was mayor of Wellington between 2001 and 2010 and is now a company director, appeared before two Justices of the Peace in the Wellington District Court this morning, challenging the ticket which was issued in January for parking on a footpath in a slipway off Victoria St.

The case was supposed to have been heard in July, but was adjourned until today after one of the JPs fell ill and a second said he personally knew Prendergast.

In a statement prepared for the court and seen by Open Justice in July, Prendergast 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 was not allowed on the roadway.

She said she was disputing the ticket because signage in the area was totally ambiguous, and she contends she didn’t park on the footpath.

A council witness, whose name was suppressed by the JPs, told the court the area where Prendergast parked was described as “a business and pedestrian route” and is considered a footpath by the council. It wasn’t designated with parking spaces, he said.

Prendergast, who represented herself, told the court there was no signage where she parked indicating it was a no parking zone, and having returned to the scene multiple times, on most occasions she found cars parked in the same spot she was ticketed.

The only sign when you entered the slip-way was a parking sign with an arrow to the left, where she parked, she said. Prendergast said these factors showed there was a signage problem.

She also challenged council’s description of the area, which staff variously described as “a business and pedestrian route”, “a footpath” and finally “a pedestrian boulevard” - this was confusing, she said.

Prendergast called one witness, a retired civil engineer, whose name was also suppressed by the JPs. He told the court he wouldn’t call the area a footpath, instead describing it as “dead land, it has no use”.

He said if it was a footpath the council should designate it correctly, install kerb and channel and put up no parking signs.

WCC lawyer Katherine Lee said to prove the offence the council had to show the vehicle was parked in the area and the area was a footpath.

She said Prendergast admitted she had parked in the area and the issue between the parties was whether or not the area was a footpath.

“Council say it’s plainly a footpath, laid out by council for pedestrians,” she said.

The JPs, who suppressed their own names, reserved their decision indicating they would release a written decision by mid-November.

 - By Catherine Hutton

 - Open Justice reporter