Auckland Transport tows car despite it being parked according to the rules

Wednesday, 20 November 2019

An Auckland man parked his car according to the Eden Park rules, but he came back to find his car towed. Now Auckland Transport won't back down.

A retired police officer has been battling Auckland Transport for a nearly a year after being issued a ticket at a rugby game – despite apparently parking within the rules.

Mark Arrowsmith was cheering on the Auckland Blues with wife Christine when they were ticketed at the start of the 2019 super rugby season.

As their team suffered an opening game loss to the Crusaders, AT was towing their car, and about 30 others, for allegedly parking on the wrong side of the street.

Mark Arrowsmith is frustrated with Auckland Transport's handling of a parking complaint where his car was towed.

But the couple said they were left confused because they had checked the rules before parking – the Eden Park website clearly showed an authorised section on the north side of Altham Ave which was where they parked.

**READ MORE:

On November 2, the Eden Park website still indicated the north side of Altham Ave was free of parking restrictions, as seen here in this photo.

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After paying the $111.50 to get their Mazda back, they discovered the parking warden had written 'UNKNOWN' under the section titled 'side of the road' on the ticket.

Checking the website again, the pair confirmed they had followed the rules and told the towie as much.

'He told us 'that's why there must have been so many cars towed from the same street that evening',' Mark said.

The North Shore couple are season ticket holders and had used public transport to and from Eden Park, but the 'special event bus service' had recently been cancelled so the couple resorted to driving after exploring all other options.

'This is hardly a great example of how a world-class city functions when its national stadium cannot work seamlessly at a major sports event with one of the key parts of the council, Auckland Transport,' he said.

The Arrowsmiths appealed the ticket, but AT declined to change it and claimed the couple parked in a temporary bus parking space for that day while a sign was displayed.

However, on the Eden Park website – which still displayed the same information online at an international rugby league match earlier this month – it said temporary parking permits would not be required for the event.

The website also specified that the resident-only parking scheme was not in operation during the match.

The couple has been fighting the ticket ever since – ironically they've paid $120 in parking fees to attend Auckland District Court on two occasions, only to have their hearing adjourned – and have had to fight off an erroneous debt collection referral because AT lost their file.

This week a third court hearing scheduled for the week before Christmas was changed to a date they cannot attend; it is likely the 2020 super rugby season would start before their case is heard.

'We are both very hard-working upstanding citizens, and I am a former soldier and police officer of 35 years' service. We are always careful and try to do what is right and reasonable,' Mark said.

'It is incredibly frustrating.'

Auckland Transport told Stuff it could not comment on the matter while it was before the court.