Lockdown time to sting motorists

An Auckland motorist has been left stunned after being stung with a $40 parking fine more than a decade after the offence.

When Kevin Longley contacted the Ministry of Justice to query the ticket he was told that officials had been instructed to launch a blitz on historic unpaid tickets — because staff were not busy during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

The Automobile Association has criticised the government department’s “money grubbing” tactics — and is calling for historic fines to be waived instead.

However the Ministry of Justice says fines never expire and it is normal practice to pursue them.

Longley told the Herald he had no idea he had an unpaid parking ticket until he received a “threatening” court letter this month and subsequently phoned the Ministry of Justice helpline.

“It’s money-making at the expense of common sense,” he said.

“I’m laughing at them because how desperate do these bureaucratic money grubbers have to be?”

Longley said an apologetic Ministry of Justice staff member told him his parking offence happened 11 years ago and that she had even older tickets she was also chasing up.