Airport car park drivers cause $37k in damage
Towing vehicles cause extensive damage
Motorists have caused tens of thousands of dollars in damages to the car park of the newly-refurbished Taupō Airport, it has been revealed. In a meeting of the Taupō Airport Authority Committee on February 2, details of several destructive incidents, including two major ones, were shared.
The first occurred when a vehicle towing a caravan collided with the licence plate monitoring camera at the car park’s entrance. The camera needed complete replacement at a cost of $3600 plus GST, with an ongoing action seeking recovery of the money from the vehicle’s driver.
The second incident saw a driver hit the newly replaced camera, as well as the control unit and intercom system at the short-term car park’s entrance.
An insurance claim for $34,000 plus GST was lodged to repair the damage, which was described as “extensive”.
On that occasion, the damage was caused by a vehicle towing a boat on a trailer.
The Airport Authority placed metal bollards with reflective banding, which the committee acknowledged were “not aesthetically appealing”, in front of vulnerable equipment in a bid to stop further incidents, as well as installing additional signage warning drivers not to enter with oversized vehicles or when towing.
Chris Johnston, chairperson of the Taupō Airport Authority Committee, said the incidents were unexpected and happened in quick succession over the busy tourist season.
“We just thought that people towing a trailer would not try to go down into a tight car park.
“It was just circumstantial- two people who were on holiday who got to a point [they couldn’t get out of].
“It was the first instance in over a year when we’d had anyone attempt anything like that.”
Johnston said the issues had been mitigated, but he hoped people would continue to exercise good judgement when driving around an airport, including not towing trailers or boats or bringing oversized vehicles into an airport car park.
“The car park’s pretty tight, it’s common sense.
“I very much doubt you’d take a trailer sailer into Auckland Airport car park.”
Further bollard installations were needed around the car park, too, due to drivers attempting to dodge paying for the car park.
“During the terminal redevelopment project, stainless steel bollards were installed on the footpath between the short stay car park and the terminal lane, however, there was an insufficient number to completely protect the car park from users trying to avoid paying the car parking charges.
“The additional bollards that had been on order for a period of time have now been installed.”
There had been costs related to further issues with drivers damaging the entrance and exit barriers, with three of the barriers now “slightly bent but still usable for the time being”.
On one occasion, “one vehicle simply drove through the short-term car park exit barrier whilst it was still in the lowered position”.
Spares were being ordered in case of further damage, the committee said.
In other developments discussed by the committee, it was revealed that passenger numbers had not seen the recovery hoped for post-Covid-19.
Just under 30,000 passengers came in or out of Taupō in the first half of the financial year ending in 2024, a 7 per cent decrease on the same time last year.
The authority’s report said this was in part due to a 3 per cent drop in the number of flights operated by Air New Zealand and Sounds Air due to weather and mechanical issues.
The forecast number of 71,720 flyers was expected to be missed by nearly 8000, even with the major events of the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and V8 Supercars bringing increased visitor numbers.
However, there was optimism as the overall trend was slowly recovering towards pre-pandemic numbers.
It also revealed that, in December 2023, Taupō Airport had received one of the many hoax security threats that were sent electronically to schools, councils and other public spaces late last year.
“The threat had also been delivered to the majority of the airports around the country and was followed up by the Civil Aviation Authority and also NZ Police.
“It was determined that the email was a hoax and had been assessed as a non-specific threat in accordance with the National Aviation Security Programme.
“No further action was required by airports or airlines.”
In the same month, there was a fire to the west of Taupō Airport’s aerodrome, caused by harvesting machinery in a nearby pine plantation.
It is thought that the machine hit a rock, causing a spark that ignited the dry vegetation.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand attended the event and extinguished the fire “without too much damage”, the report said.