Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Surveillance cameras pointed at parking cheats

Updated at 9:15 pm on 22 February 2010

Wellington City Council has become the first local authority to use surveillance cameras to watch for parking violations in order to issue fines.

The council plans to install four cameras in the central city in May, following a trial last year.

The cameras will electronically patrol the bus-stops along the city's popular nightlife strip, Courtney Place.

Council spokesperson Richard MacLean says the situation often becomes chaotic on Friday and Saturday evenings as buses cannot get to their stops because of illegally parked taxi-drivers who refuse to leave.

Mr MacLean says using parking wardens does not work because as soon as the wardens are spotted the taxi drivers disappear.

The tapes will be reviewed for the busiest two hours on Friday and Saturday nights, and fines will be issued whenever parking laws have been breached. The cameras won't be monitored, he says.

The Taxi Federation believes banning cars from Wellington's entertainment area at night would be a better answer to parking disputes than surveillance cameras.

Executive director Tim Reddish says Courtney Place is a shambles but the real problem is a lack of spaces for cabs to wait in.

Mr Reddish says the council should exlude private motorists from its entertainment area and only let taxis and buses in.

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