Boulton was ticketed for parking his ute with two wheels on the berm outside his Lucca Cres property on August 16.
The Rolleston resident lost his battle to have the ticket dismissed, but said his story will raise awareness so others do not get caught.
"The moral win is that we’ve got the story out there about what Selwyn District Council are doing to people.
"Win or lose, I’d won already."
It was the first time the council had been taken to court over a parking ticket.
In court, the council’s parking compliance officer, who was granted name suppression, said they were on the street responding to a different complaint when they noticed Boulton’s ute parked illegally.
In cross-examination, Boulton asked the officer why they did not knock on the door.
They responded: “We don’t knock on doors for the safety of our officers.”
In his evidence, Boulton said before he was issued the ticket he had been parking in the same spot without issue for four-and-a-half years.
On the day he was ticketed, Boulton said a truck was parked on the other side of the road.
If he had not parked on the berm there would not have been enough space on the road for the likes of emergency vehicles to pass through.
The council’s lawyer Sophie Meares asked Boulton why he did not park further down the road.
"I did not think of that at the time," Boulton responded.
"I’d raced home because we were going to a wedding and when I got home my wife was still out getting her hair done so I parked on the road."
Meares said the council had been running an education campaign about safe parking since 2022.
In delivering his verdict, Justice of the Peace John Skipper said he sympathised with Boulton, but could not ignore the "black and white" law.
Boulton will pay the $40 ticket plus $34 in court fees.
"$34 for court costs is nothing.
"It has cost council a lot more to drag me through to this stage – it would have been cheaper for them to wipe the ticket in the first place."
Council head of regulatory Susan Atherton would not say specifically what the exercise had cost the council.
"There was a fee to lodge the request for a hearing, the staff time spent on the case was part of their regular work requirements and was not recorded as there was no additional cost to the council,” Atherton said.
"It is useful to have our processes reviewed and we are pleased they were upheld in this case.
"We will take some time to review the comments made in the decision and consider if there are any changes needed."
