Council denies targeting street vendor
A DUNEDIN food truck owner says he was hounded out of a central city site by overzealous parking officers.
Stephen Cropper and his wife had been selling hot food from a converted caravan in Great King St outside the University of Otago’s School of Dentistry for about two weeks earlier this month when Mr Cropper says they were targeted byDunedin City Council parking officers.
To save a space in the street Mr Cropper had been parking both the caravan and another vehicle side by side in two fourhour parks and then swapping the parks when the fourhour time limit was reached.
Not long after, the parks were changed to a maximum of two hours, so Mr Cropper started to park three vehicles which he and his wife would switch in and out of parks throughout the day.
It was then parking officers started to target and ticket the vehicles, he said.
On top of the $60 a day it was costing in parking, Mr Cropper said he received parking fines worth about $250.
Ultimately, he decided it was not worth the hassle and cost and was now looking for a spot elsewhere in the city.
Council animal and parking services team leader Peter Hanlin said, as members of the public had made official complaints about the caravan and other vehicles, it was obliged to investigate the issue, but the caravan was not targeted.
Parking enforcement officers regularly patrolled the busy area to ensure all vehicle owners followed the rules, Mr Hanlin said.
Park swapping was allowed under the council’s parking bylaw, he said.
Council transport strategy manager Nick Sargent said the change to twohour parking was discussed as part of a parking plan for the area and was agreed to with neighbouring landowners.