MP raises concerns over conduct of Wilson Parking
Saturday, 25 May 2024
Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb has written to the minister for transport raising concerns about the conduct of Wilson Parking, branding its behaviour an “abuse of rights”.
Webb urged Simeon Brown to direct Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider revoking its authorisation allowing Wilson Parking the right to access information on the Motor Vehicles Register under the Land Transport Act.
Wilson Parking has special permission from NZTA to access the register and obtain personal information, including people’s names and addresses.
Webb said in his letter he was concerned Wilson’s behaviour was an “abuse of the rights granted to access the register”.
The Press was contacted by more than 20 people who had frustrating experiences with Wilson Parking or its parking enforcement services division.
Webb said he had also had “several” people contact him about their challenges with the parking company.
Webb told Brown Wilson does not comply with the law, saying: “It claims sums for ‘parking breaches’ as if this were a fine due to a government authority.”
He said it does this by using “false” and “misleading” language.
“The sums claimed bear no relationship with the loss and are a penalty and therefore illegal.
“There is an arbitrary additional fee if the demand is not met within a 28-day timeframe, along with an entirely inappropriate threat of legal proceedings and an unfounded claim of the imposition on legal fees.
“The ‘appeal’ process clearly is a facade and there is no genuine or even-handed consideration of special circumstances,” Webb wrote.
Webb said the kind of behaviour from Wilson is enabled by the use of the Motor Vehicle Register and could be prevented by removing the authorisation.
He said the “outrageous” fees people are being handed are not justifiable, and Wilson should be asking only for the actual losses suffered.
Wilson Parking chief executive Ryan Orchard disagreed with Webb, saying the company acts “entirely within our legal rights” and within its terms and conditions.
“We understand no-one likes receiving a breach notice and we understand and accept that errors can occur by customers and our teams - but it doesn’t mean we can accept more people blatantly avoiding to pay.”
He said breach notices cover the administrative and labour costs of enforcing terms and conditions, and the fee is legally set at a level to “discourage non-compliance” and is “relatively standard” across the private parking industry in New Zealand.
“Breach notices are issued in accordance with accepted principles of contract law and the method is further supported by the Ministry of Transport and Ombudsman.
“I want to make one thing clear: we do not want to issue breach notices - we simply want customers to pay for the services they use when parking in our car parks.
“We encourage drivers to eliminate the risk of a breach notice by being aware of where you’re parking and read the signs.”
Brown directed questions to Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly.
Bayly said it was a “difficult situation” and he “sympathised” with those faced with large parking tickets.
“The law is that the terms and conditions of parking must be clearly visible and that any fee charged for breach of those terms must be reasonable and proportionate. But measuring what is proportionate is not always straightforward.”
He encouraged people to check signage carefully, and to make a complaint to the Commerce Commission if they feel they have been overcharged.
Anyone can opt out of having their personal information being accessible via the Motor Vehicle Register.