John MacDonald: Parking fines need to be tougher

When I was a kid, growing up in Dunedin, I used to hear adults talking about The Blue Flies.

I don’t know if it was just a Dunedin thing. But I eventually found out that these Blue Flies people were talking about were parking wardens.

They were called Blue Flies because they dressed in blue uniforms and they were as welcome as a fly.

And however many million years it is since I was a kid, nothing’s changed. I don’t think they’re called Blue Flies anymore - and the uniforms certainly aren’t as styley as they were back in the 60s and 70s - but you go anywhere, and parking wardens are pretty much despised, aren’t they?

Ever since we’ve moved to our new building in the centre of town, avoiding the parking wardens has become a bit of an in-house sport. And it seems to me that there’s a particular warden who patrols Armagh Street who has earned himself a bit of a reputation for being no-nonsense.

The emails fly around the office when “the parking guy” has been spotted by one of our crew. And there’s an immediate rush to move cars parked where they shouldn't be.

It’s a bit like one of those nature documentaries where it seems to be Groundhog Day and the same pack of animals dodge a bullet from one of their predators on a daily basis.

Whew, safe. But the danger will return tomorrow and we’ll do the whole merry dance all over again. That’s what it’s like when “the parking guy” turns up.

He’s the predator you don’t want to fall prey to. And you might’ve got away with it today, but you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

And if he does get you, does it really matter? Because is the fine itself worth all the panic and excitement?

Ask the Government, and it would say “no”. Because it’s being reported today that it’s looking at doing a review of parking fines because no one’s had a look at them for nearly 25 years.

The way things stand, local councils determine the parking rules - but it’s only the Government that can determine what fine people have to pay if they outstay their welcome in a parking space.

And papers released to the media under the Official Information Act show that the Government has been working in the background on having a bit of a re-think on how much we get pinged when we break the parking rules.

I break them all the time. Chances are you do too. And I break the rules because the prospect of a $12 ticket is nothing. I know it’s not a one-size-fits-all $12 fine all the time. But that's the starting point and the longer you're parked illegally, the higher the fine gets.

But where the Government’s thinking is at, is that the fines need to be higher because they’re not enough to deter people from breaking the rules being set by local councils.

From what I’ve seen, the Government thinks the $12 starting point is way too low - which means if that goes up, all the other fines will go up too. And I’d support that.

If they did go up, of course I’d change my ways. Which would mean less people like me hogging car parks for longer than I should and, maybe, you would find that park you seem to drive round-and-round for ages trying to find.

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