Lawyer takes council to task over parking fines

A man pinged over unpaid parking when the meter was broken has taken his fight to court.

Tony Stallard defended two charges in the Nelson District Court yesterday for failing to display a parking permit after he parked in Buxton Square carpark, and found the meter closest to him was broken. The Nelson City Council confirmed at the hearing that the meter wasn’t working, but said it was normal procedure to find one that was.

The central city carpark has a three-hour time limit and parking costs $2 an hour. It’s free for the first hour but a rego number has to be entered into the pay-by-plate system.

On each occasion in September and October last year that Stallard was issued the $40 infringement fee, he had been parked near his office for about half an hour.

Stallard, the former director of Nelson firm Stallard Law who now works as a consultant, represented himself in court as a “pensioner” when asked by Justice of the Peace David Whyte if he had a legal background. His defence focused on challenging the council parking bylaw, and finer legal points around how evidence was presented in court.

Stallard told NZME outside court that he had no issue with paying for parking or paying a fine imposed legitimately, but it was “the arrogance of the approach” that concerned him.

City council environmental officer Brian Wood said it was a simple matter of the defendant having parked his vehicle and then refused to pay.

Whyte said a decision on whether the charges could be proved was going to take time and adjourned the matter until the end of May.