Ownership question stumps lawyers in city parking stoush

He avoids a fine because WDC couldn’t prove who the registration was to.

Judge Gene Tomlinson

The case seemed straightforward at first glance: a man was facing a simple infringement after being caught on camera parking a car and trailer across a driveway.

However, two council lawyers found themselves bewildered during a judge-alone trial when neither could answer a pivotal question — “Who owns the trailer?”

Now that man has walked free after his case was dismissed.

Whangārei District Council took Spark 100 Ltd, a company registered to Vladislav Gorbatchev, to court after a ticket issued in July 2023 was still not paid and required enforcement.

Gorbatchev pleaded not guilty to the infringement of parking on a broken yellow line in the Whangārei District Court this week before Judge Gene Tomlinson.

Council lawyers Darren Foster and Daniel Grimes called the parking warden who ticketed Gorbatchev to give evidence and also played her bodycam footage of the incident.

The warden said she was on duty in the upper CBD area of Whangārei around 1pm on July 18, 2023 when she noticed a car with a trailer parked illegally.

“The vehicle was in a space, but the trailer was over yellow broken lines and over a driveway,” she told the court.

In bodycam footage played to the court, Gorbatchev is captured telling the warden to remove the fine from his car.

“God will punish you, I am sure,” he says before leaving and then returning with a phone and filming her.

“I will call the police now. Everyone will know how bad you are. Police will arrest you. Everyone hates you,” he says to the warden.

Grimes told the court the warden issued the infringement to “the man in the bodycam footage”.

When Grimes closed his case for the council, Judge Tomlinson asked whether he was sure that was the end of the council’s case, to which Grimes responded, “Yes.”

“Who owns the trailer?” Judge Tomlinson immediately asked the council — neither lawyer was able to answer.

“This is a charge against Spark 100 for an infringement. The WDC set out to prove against Spark 100, who they allege is the owner of a trailer.

“I am satisfied the owner of the vehicle was parked across the driveway.

“However, I don’t know who the owner of the trailer is. No evidence has been offered linking the trailer to Spark 100 and I cannot be satisfied he [Gorbatchev] is the owner of the trailer, and therefore the case is dismissed.

“He avoids a fine because WDC couldn’t prove who the registration was to,” Judge Tomlinson said.

The council hired the lawyers from Thomson Wilson Law, which can charge up to $500 per hour.

Gorbatchev is no stranger to battles with the Whangārei District Council after the Environment Court recently enforced an order on him regarding the state of his Moody Avenue residence.

In 2022, the council conducted an inspection at his address which found 80 appliances either being stored or repaired, indicating he was running a whiteware business within a medium-density residential zone.

An unconsented lean-to was also discovered, and the court ordered Gorbatchev cease activity and remove all whiteware and the lean-to within 30 days.

Within three months, Gorbatchev appeared to have complied with the orders, but by May 2023 complaints came into the council again, triggering another investigation, which found more appliances being stored and advertised for sale.

In July 2023, the council sought another order which the Environment Court enforced for three years.

“I would have thought it would have been obvious to Mr Gorbatchev that he could not recommence bringing whiteware and appliances to the property. However, he did. This was a flagrant breach of the District Plan for a second time,” Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith said in his decision.

Gorbachev was ordered to pay the council $5000 for his first breach and $10,000 for the second breach.