Co-conspirator claims he was ‘instrumental’ in plot against Wilson Parking, but ‘exploited’

Tuesday, 23 June 2026

A man who describes himself as a co-conspirator in a plot against Wilson Parking has admitted to helping a former colleague start a rival company.

The senior Wilson executive, who has name suppression, says his credibility with landlords was “instrumental” to Peter Turner’s plan to start Christchurch-based Mainland Parking.

Although he cannot be named, The Press can report he was in a senior position in the company. He has a cooperation agreement with Wilson Parking and is its witness.

Turner has been accused of several contract breaches, including sabotaging client contracts and relationships before he resigned and during his year-long restraint of trade period.

As Employment Court proceedings begin with the plaintiff and its evidence, the court may not hear Turner’s side of the story for another week.

However, his former colleague told Employment Court Judge Helen Doyle on Monday he and Turner met landlords some 10 months before Turner resigned with the intent of testing interest in a competing business.

“I participated in it knowing that purpose,” he said.

They told landlords how unhappy they were at Wilson’s, he said, and a number of clients felt similarly unappreciated. He said Wilson’s handling of infringement notices was raised.

“Many were not happy with Wilson Parking … generally [the landlords] had loyalty to us personally,” he said.

He felt increasingly undervalued. On a business trip, he said Wilson Parking NZ CEO Ryan Orchard used a rugby analogy on him, reportedly saying “you’re only as good as your last game”.

Feeling hurt, and growing fearful of redundancy, he said he and Turner — whose motivations were financial, he said — began discussing a rival company. The senior executive could not recall whose idea it was first.

Within a few months of Turner resigning, the senior executive — then still an employee of Wilson’s — said Turner offered him 50% of the future company for $1.

In the meantime, he said Turner bought and paid for “burner phones” so they could secretly keep in touch and discuss leases.

The senior executive touched on several of Wilson’s allegations against Turner. Regarding alleged contract sabotage by inserting clauses which would make it easy for landlords to terminate agreements and defect to a competitor, the senior executive believed that was true, and admitted to doing the same thing but with a different method.

He also believed Turner had gathered confidential information before he left in order to start a new business, but later conceded on cross examination that the information Turner accessed as an employee had been necessary to do his job.

The man said he found out about Wilson’s legal action against Turner while catching up at a pub before Christmas of 2024, barely a fortnight into Mainland Parking being operational.

He said at Turner’s suggestion he disposed of the burner phone, and during a search order in March 2025, Turner reassured him the option agreement had not been discovered.

The man claimed Turner believed even if the matter went to court, and he failed, it was worth the “gamble” that he might be allowed to keep some of the sites.

“He didn’t think he’d done anything wrong,” he said.

“Looking back, I believe Peter used me for his own purposes … he exploited my unhappiness with Wilson Parking … I should have known better.”

The senior executive’s cross examination continues on Tuesday.