Have you ever arrived home late at night, car packed to the hilt after a family event, only to find that a ‘random’ has parked in your driveway, leaving you feeling vulnerable and blocking you from being able to safely unpack?
Frustrated and concerned for her own safety, and the safety of others late at night in central Tauranga, a senior resident is seeking clarity on the council’s process for addressing such incidents.
In a distressing Boxing Day ordeal, a Tauranga CBD resident in her 70s returning to her inner city home after a joyous family Christmas celebration, found herself confronted with an unexpected obstacle.
As the clock neared 1am, she discovered the entrance to her apartment complex blocked by an unauthorized car, rendering her unable to access her residence with her car.
This complex has secure car parking inside, which means she would normally have got home and then been able to unload safely.
Knocking on her neighbours’ doors, which was distressing in itself, due to the hour of the night, she discovered that the vehicle didn’t belong to any of them.
What followed next was a muddle of bureaucracy.
Despite her attempts to seek assistance by contacting the council, police and tow truck services, she encountered a frustrating cycle of redirection.
Each entity advised her to call the others, leaving her feeling stranded on the street in the early hours of the morning, unpacking her car and feeling vulnerable in the silence of the night.
“I used the Council after-hours service at 1am on December 26 because a car was blocking the entrance to my apartment complex and I could not get in,” says the resident.
“I am a 70-year-old lady. I rang the police, they suggested ringing the council; council said ring a tow truck; the tow truck said it is the council’s responsibility because it was within two metres of the road. I rang the council back and they said not their problem, go back to police.”
Disheartened and concerned for the safety of others caught in a similar jumble, she’s worried that council doesn’t appear to have a process for residents around what to do in this type of scenario.
“As an older woman I felt immensely unsafe having to unload all the Christmas stuff from the road and take it into the complex which took me to around 2am,” she says.
“What I have asked of the council is to provide the residents of our city with what the correct process is in such a case as this.”
“Residents can reach us 24/7, even on public holidays, by calling 07 577 7000 or emailing info@tauranga.govt.nz,” says Tauranga City Council’s community services general manager Barbara Dempsey.
“Our contact centre responds to these types of parking situations during business hours, however, after hours the customer is advised to contact the police.
“We realise that a blocked driveway can, in a case of an emergency, be significant so we would respond as quickly as possible during the day and would recommend contacting the Police immediately afterhours.”
Barbara says the responsibility for responding to urgent parking matters on a public holiday, or overnight, falls to the Police.
“Our process for responding to afterhours parking complaints depends on the severity of what’s occurred.
“In urgent cases we advise the customer to dial 105 to contact the Police, but if the issue was minor, and we could address it the next working day, then it gets logged and assigned to our parking and bylaws team to action first thing.
“On this occasion, we advised the customer to phone the Police as per our after-hours process.
“We appreciate it is frustrating for people who find themselves in a situation like this after-hours, and we do our best to help.”
The resident says she has since heard from Tauranga City Council staff herself.
"A council official advised me today [Tuesday January 9] that the police contact centre is based in Auckland and Auckland Council has council staff available to attend these events and that it is likely that they [police] thought Tauranga would have this service also. However Tauranga City Council do not have any service available overnight hence their referral to the Police.
"I personally felt very reluctant to involve the police as they are so busy. My main point is that people in Tauranga need to know what to do."
3 comments
Unsurprising.
Posted on 10-01-2024 14:05 | By morepork
The Jobsworths who populate our administration go to a special school where they learn that the cardinal rule is: "Take no responsibility, never admit it is within your scope, and refer the problem elsewhere." And we wonder why our City is going down the toilet. SOMEBODY is responsible for parking. (Presumably the same department that maintains and collects revenue from parking meters...?) The "after hours support" for that department should have contacted the towing company and had the offending car impounded, under the authority of the Council. The number is noted and the owner is contacted the following day. The car is retrieved and the fees are paid. How hard is it? The Council should have "after hours support" for ALL of its departments and staff should be trained NOT to pass the buck. Involving the Police, who become the "catch all" for this irresponsibility, is inappropriate and unnecessary.
@ morepork
Posted on 10-01-2024 17:49 | By nerak
Totally agree, but what else can we expect from moronic, overpaid staff at TCC. Very strange that they should think this is a police matter. What's the bet if it was one of their own in the article, one of their own would have arrived quick smart to sort it out?
Why blur out the rego
Posted on 10-01-2024 23:00 | By Captain Hottie
Publicise this miscreant's registration plate so we know who they are. Also if it's an apartment block maybe there's a manager who should deal with this. Unfortunately if people park blocking your driveway council don't want to know, otherwise those selfish parents who block driveways waiting for little lord fauntleroy to get out of school would be dealt to.
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