23 May 2023
Media: Local Democracy Reporter
Topic: Abandoned vehicles
Enquiry
I was speaking with [name] who lives on Porikapa Rd who says there is a car on the footpath at 14 Morey Street that has been there since February. She said called the council about it in March. A month later nothing had been done and so called. She said she was told the address could not be found. She then emailed about it after the phonecall and ten days afterwards rang again and was again told the address could not be found. She couldn't remember exact dates. She said a notice was put in the window of the vehicle a bit over a week ago.
Another man said there was a car on Edward Payton Grove for four months and he has called three times about it, and nothing was done until a notice was placed a bit over a week ago as well.
Can I please ask if either of the vehicles above were visited by council staff before the notices were placed? When were the notices placed?
What exactly are the notices and what does it require the vehicle owners to do?
What happens if there is no action?
How many reports of abandoned or illegally parked vehicles has the council received this year? In the last month?
How many have not been followed up?
How many have been issued notices? How many have been towed, and who paid for this?
If there was a cost to ratepayers, what was it?
Any other info or comment?
Response
We informed the reporter that neither of the vehicles she was enquiring about were abandoned, and that council staff had spoken to the registered owners, adding that cars can be parked on the road as long as this is done safely and any legal requirements are complied with, so there was no abandoned cars story with regards to the specified vehicles.
We invited the reporter to come back to us if there was anything she still wished to pursue.