North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Parents ticketed for parking after school hours
After years of leniency, parents are now getting pinged for parking in a North Shore business hub when they pick up their children after school.
Enforcement of the Smales Farm parking policy is being called ‘‘mean spirited’’ by parents who feel like they have no other option but to stop in the commercial precinct across the road from Takapuna Normal Intermediate to collect their children.
Safe pick-up and drop-off points are limited at the school. Parent Bruce Doig said, other than Smales Farm, ‘‘there is nowhere else parents can safely pick up their children from TNIS’’. Doig’s wife Nicole was issued a $65 fine for parking to pick up their daughter outside Subway, half an hour after school finished.
‘‘We get that some problems could occur in some circumstances, but Smales Farm have used a blunt instrument to penalise all parents equally when the level of offence is going to vary widely,’’ Doig said.
‘‘We think Smales Farm should take the effort to ensure their policy is restricted to problem areas during problem times and not applied unreasonably across their entire facility.’’
Smales Farm chief executive officer Paul Gunn said a number of ‘‘serious near-miss incidents’’ earlier this year, led to the crackdown on parking at the facility. ‘‘Whilst Smales Farm has been accommodating for a large number of years, the deteriorating pick-up behaviour and substantially increased health and safety risks, most notably for the school children themselves, meant that we were left with no choice but to stop Smales Farm’s private roads from being used for the school pick-up and drop-offs,’’ Gunn said.
Smales Farm is working with
‘‘The schools contributed significantly to this issue when they closed their gates ’’ Smales Farm chief executive officer Paul Gunn
Auckland Transport to find a long-term solution.
‘‘The schools contributed significantly to this issue when they closed their gates to prevent parents from parking to pick up their children, which they did in line with the Health and Safety Act. We are doing the same to ensure no one gets hurt.’’
Takapuna Normal Intermediate School does not allow parents’ vehicles in the school bus bay or school car park between 2.40pm and 3.30pm.