Posts by Steve Barnes
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I bet they don't issue fines to motorcyclists in Timaru.
But Wellington is a different matter.
Heat put on motorcycle parking
And Dunedin needs to get its thinking cap on. -
To be fair, Timaru did actually remove all the parking meters from the main street.
But did they stop issuing fines for "No parking ticket"?
;-) -
Wait, Timaru had a parking problem when you worked there? I wasn't aware it had a great need for parking wardens now...
Car parks, Parking meters and parking fines are just a way for the Council to make some dosh. If they were serious about traffic management they would do more for public transport. Timaru is no different.
The Police will often drop infringement notices at the first sign of argument, they do not need the aggravation of sending an officer to court. Councils, on the other hand, will chase you to the ends of the earth to get their "pound of flesh" it's no skin off their nose to have a dedicated officer in the court to process the cattle.
But this is a digression. The real problem is what happens when you get a fine and the courts, through the DOJ, fail to operate the system effectively and in so doing, remove the deterrent effect that the fines were supposed to be.
Which reminds me...
I once got a parking ticket in Ponsonby when they replaced the old parking meters with the new pay-and-display units.
I thought they had reverted to free parking (yes, I know, silly me)
So I wrote a letter...Dear Sir / Madam,
The vehicle involved in this matter was driven by me as my partner, redacted , is disabled due to a sub arachnoid haemorrhage suffered in December of 2003.
As we rarely travel to Ponsonby I was unaware that the areas for pay and display parking had been extended to include the area adjacent to the café Cezanne so it came as a surprise to receive the infringement notice in my mail. Furthermore, upon subsequent investigation, signs indicating this fact are positioned in such a way as to be not noticeable unless you are viewing from the opposite side of the road, they are well over two metres above pavement level. Additionally the ticket machine is obscured from view by “sandwich board” advertising the aforementioned café.As a regular user of Auckland City car parks it was not and has never been, my intention to defraud the offices of council of legitimate income and wish to confer my abject apologies and offer remuneration of $2.00 (enclosed) for the payment of the parking fee.
If you find this offer to be untenable please return the monies at the above address. If I do not receive correspondence within a period of ten working days I will consider this matter closed.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Steve Barnes snr.They returned the $2 and warned me not to do it again.
:-) -
Jesus.
Yup, all a bit Kafkaesque for my liking but it turns out that they were using the "confirmation" questions to build a database.
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Good on ya Mickey, it's about time the DOJ was held to account.
Back in the dim and distant land that is 1995 around 1 o'clock in the morning, I heard a knock on my back door.
Thinking nothing other than "who the F could that be" I answered the call, "SMACK" straight in the face, then a kick to the stomach and then darkness. My partner heard the commotion and, on seeing the situation, called the Police. She held onto them by the scruff of the neck, the cops were there in seconds and they duly arrested said assholes. It turns out that they were owed money by an "acquaintance" who told them that I had taken their cash, bullshite.
Anyhow. Court date arrives and they get $400 fine and $400 reparations each, to be paid to me once the court had received its share.
A couple of years back I received a letter from DOJ demanding payment of a $400 fine for "No rego., no warrant and parked on a grass verge. The details were familiar to me because I had dealt with this fine twice before, once about ten years earlier and once about three years. The incident dated back to when I had traded a vehicle in at a dealership and the ticket was for when the car was parked outside a wreckers yard awaiting its final journey. I still had all the paperwork, both the papers on the sale and handover of the vehicle and the letters from DOJ pertaining to the quashing of the fine. At this point you would think that would be all that was needed to sort out the problem, yes?.
No.
When I first called I was asked for name, address and DOB before anyone would listen to me. Then I was told to send all the original paperwork to them so it could be sorted out. Yeah, right. I told them I would send copies, they said they would have to be notarised copies, I said they should check their records.
Geez, this is getting long and boring eh?
Anyway. I reminded them about the $800 reparations due to me. Oh, they said, I'll just put you on hold.
Another person came on the phone. "Can I have your Name and date of birth?"
"I've just done all that" I said.
"Yes well, Name, date of birth"
So I do it all again and then...
"Mothers maiden name Sir."
"What?"
"Mothers maiden name Sir"
"Why?"
"We have to make sure you are who you say you are Sir"
"OK but do you have my Mothers maiden name"
"No Sir"
"So how does that tell you who I am?"
"If you don't answer I will hang up Sir"
"You're building a database, aren't you?"
"Are you going to answer my question Sir?"
"No"... click.
I called back several times until I got someone reasonable. I sorted out the fine, until the next time anyway. As for the $800 reparation, I am still waiting.
And yes. I will shut up now. -
"We need more DJs"
Yes. Get Anne Folly to insist on Gramophone lessons for te Kids.
I wanna hear more Gramophone! -
I think Mikey is exposing the conspiracy between the University and Auckland City Parking. For years he has riled against the iniquity of 90 minute parking where lectures run for 120 minutes and sometimes even. less.
I consider Mikey to be a hero of our times. For one who learned to play the Gramophone so well, I think he should be held in high esteem. -
I don't think it's corrupt or wasting taxpayers' money or whatever, I just think it's childish.
So what do you suggest Lucy? the Naughty step or a Smack?.
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I guess sometimes you just can't win, especially if you are brown, less likely if you're Brownlee.
Hone has taken the line of "Change the system from within"
He is perfectly entitled to call "Bullshit" when he perceives it. Blingglish twists the rules on accommodation expenses and there is much wringing of hands and "Well yes"'ing and blah blah. Philip Field gets crucified for helping a refugee for Koha. Rodney gets to take his girlfriend on happy holls and Winston gets shafted for not declaring Party donations, so let's not mention Brash and the Brethren at this point.
So how are we supposed to effect change?
If you try to do it from the inside by exposing hypocrisy you get reamed, if you try to do it from the outside, well, just ask Tama Iti. -
Right. Nobody mention Bagpipes. OK?