Pensioner’s 'unbelievably harsh' $85 fine for 16-minute parking mistake waived after Stuff steps in
Friday, 12 June 2026
Two pensioners aged in their 70s mistakenly parked outside a private hospital after getting lost trying to find a medical appointment.
The Southbridge couple received an $85 fine for exceeding the car park's 15-minute grace period by one minute.
Smart Compliance Management rejected the couple's initial online appeal, upholding the fine and warning of potential debt collection fees.
After Stuff intervened the precinct's management company, Mainland Capital, accepted the situation as an honest mistake and immediately waived the fine.
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In this instalment: Pensioners Corinne and Paul Ubana Jones were facing an $85 fine for being one minute over the grace period when they mistakenly parked at the wrong building. Natalie Akoorie reports on an immediate about-face after Stuff made enquiries.
The problem
When Corinne Jones brought her husband Paul to Christchurch for a medical appointment the pensioners accidentally parked at the wrong building.
The couple were looking for CGM Research Trust on the coroner of Colombo and Kilmore streets, which had a car park for visitors on Kilmore St.
Jones parked the car at 155 Kilmore St and the couple, aged 71 and 74, went in search of the Trust.
She said her GPS placed her at the correct address but there were no street numbers visible.
About 300m along the street they found CGM and realised they’d parked in the wrong place.
“So then we immediately went back to get the car and brought it to the right car park.”
A few days later they received a parking fine of $85 in the mail from Smart Compliance Management.
The breach notice showed a photo of Jones’ car entering the car park attached to a private hospital in the Forté Health precinct on Kilmore St at 9.13am and leaving at 9.29am.
The notice said the breach was for parking in violation of the policies at 155 Kilmore St, including “exceeding maximum allowed stay time and/or unauthorised parking and/or failure to validate parking”.
What went wrong
Jones appealed the fine online and received a response from Smart Compliance Management.
“The land on which you were parked is not public land and is privately owned,” the statement, seen by Stuff, read.
“Smart Compliance Management are contracted by the landowner to enforce and manage the car park on their behalf.
“We may issue a Breach Notice to any vehicle that breaches the advertised Terms and Conditions, which are enforced under contract law.
“Upon entering the car park, you agree to enter into this contract. For any motorists that do not agree to this, we provide sufficient time to leave the car park.”
It noted the car park was for authorised vehicles only.
“Having considered your appeal in detail we have decided to uphold the Breach Notice as we believe that it was correctly issued in accordance with the terms and conditions advertised within the area concerned.”
The breach notice said failure to pay the $85 by June 16 could incur a $20 administration fee.
Under frequently asked questions on the parking enforcer’s website, it said if there was no contact within 35 days of a breach notice the infringer’s details would be passed onto a debt collection agency, along with applicable additional fees.
It also stated that to ensure fairness, it applied a grace period before issuing a notice including allowing reasonable time to read signs before deciding whether to stay and pay, after paid time expired to exit the car park, and a short buffer after a time limit was reached to allow for loading or internal traffic.
However, it did not explicitly state how long that grace period was.
When Jones contacted Stuff for help she said her husband, well-known musician Paul Ubana Jones, couldn’t walk fast anymore which meant it took them slightly longer to return to the vehicle.
She said $85 was a lot of money for a retired couple on a fixed income.
“It really was an honest mistake and for the sake of 16 minutes … as soon as we realised that wasn’t the right building and therefore couldn’t have been the right car park we went back.
“I think they’re unbelievably harsh.”
What we did
Stuff rang Forté Health chief executive and former National MP Michael Woodhouse to explain the situation and ask if he would invite Smart Compliance Management to make an exception and waive the fine.
Woodhouse said the hospital was only one tenant among a number of tenanted buildings in the area owned by NHL, so it was not up to the hospital but its landlord.
He also said the hospital paid for private car parks so that patients and their visitors could park for free for two hours, with validated parking.
NHL Properties Ltd is the owner of Forté Health Precinct, a private medical precinct in the city’s central business district.
It appeared to be managed by funds manager Mainland Capital.
Stuff emailed Smart Compliance Management and Mainland Capital outlining the situation and asking if they would waive the $85 fine.
Almost immediately Mainland Capital asset manager Penny Blue rang Stuff to say it would waive the fine.
Blue confirmed the two hour parking limit at the hospital but guessed Jones must have parked in the staff car park, which had a 15 minute grace period, putting Jones over the limit by one minute.
She said she “completely appreciated” that the parking was a genuine mistake.
In a follow up email Blue apologised for the distress caused and said they had requested the penalty be waived.
“There is a system in place where appeals such as these would typically be waived however this one must have slipped through the cracks.”
Blue said she wanted the Jones’ to know they wouldn’t have to pay the fine so that they wouldn’t worry over it.
Did we solve it?
Smart Compliance Management responded via email confirming the car park was designated for Forté Health staff and signs indicated that.
It said the breach notice was issued in accordance with the rules, however, it aimed to assess each appeal fairly and reasonably.
“Having considered the circumstances that have been outlined, we have elected to waive this breach notice and all associated costs.
“We have also provided further guidance to our New Zealand-based appeals team to ensure circumstances of this nature continue to be considered appropriately during the review process.”
When Stuff rang Jones to give her the good news she was rapt and called it brilliant.
“Oh that’s great news. Oh my God, how did you do that? Thank you so much for your efforts.”
The New Standard: If it’s unfair to you, it’s fair game for us.
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