Prominent Christchurch landowner earned ‘five times’ more after leaving Wilson Parking for rival

Wednesday, 8 July 2026

Prominent Christchurch landlord Liz Harris said she alone decided to cut her relationship with Wilson Parking.

A prominent Christchurch landowner says she earned five times more from a central city car park after leaving Wilson Parking to lease to its ex-employee-turned-rival Peter Turner.

Liz Harris, who is the most prolific landlord in Christchurch, took the stand on Tuesday as a witness for Turner and his company Mainland Parking.

Turner is before Employment Court Judge Helen Doyle facing several allegations of contract breaches, including sabotaging client contracts and using confidential information to start his competing business.

But Harris said she alone decided to cut her relationship with Wilson, a company she had grown dissatisfied with and distrustful of. She believed the parking giant was making significant profits from her land, and was not being transparent.

Turner, on the other hand, she trusted. After resigning from Wilson, Turner was paid by Harris directly to manage essential car park upgrades.

About six months into his 12-month restraint of trade period after leaving Wilson, with Turner now having incorporated his company, Harris agreed to let him manage her car parks once the upgrades were complete.

She told Judge Doyle that after switching to Mainland she began earning about five times more on one central Christchurch site than she did with Wilson, and about three times more on a second car park.

Peter Turner had worked hard and saved Harris many thousands of dollars on projects, she told the Employment Court. (File photo)

Harris said she never asked if Turner was still under a restraint of trade because it was none of her business.

It was Harris’s trust in Turner’s integrity that Wilson’s lawyer Rachael Reed KC especially challenged during cross-examination.

Reed confronted Harris with text messages to contractors and invoices which she said suggested Turner was collecting finder’s fees, or “kick-backs”, something Turner has denied. Harris admitted she would be “pissed off” if it was true.

Harris, a prominent Christchurch landowner, said switching from Wilson Parking to Mainland Parking was earning her up to five times more in revenue.

Harris said she learned of alleged kick-backs through The Press’ reporting of the trial. It had concerned her enough to email Turner and ask if the allegation involved her, but he did not reply.

During cross-examination, however, Harris said there could be reasonable explanations behind the extra payments.

Harris appeared unhappy to hear of one invoice for work which was cheaper when first quoted to Turner. According to Reed, Turner asked the contractor, “could you maybe flick $3500 in this bigger one if that’s OK”, and then $3500 was added.

For another quote with the same contractor, Turner, whose text message was read aloud by Reed, asked about “skimping on materials” to give Turner another $3500 while keeping the job below a certain price.

“I’ll play around with it now,” the contractor replied, Reed said.

Harris told the court: “I’ve only just seen this [the texts] and I have to give Peter the benefit of the doubt.

“He did a good job on these [projects], he saved me a lot of money … it’s unfair for me to make judgment on Peter without knowing the facts.”

She said she had no problem if he was compensated by the contractors for work he did, especially as she knew for certain he worked hard on the sites, including doing manual labour.

It was even possible Turner had told her about the contractor payments and she did not remember, Harris suggested at one point. Reed, referring to the transcript of Turner’s cross-examination a week prior, said Turner had already admitted to not telling her about them.

The case continues.