New scheme for bus stop parking fines

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 9

New scheme for bus stop parking fines

Drivers who park their vehicles on bus stops might be in for a nasty surprise from next week. Parking infringement notices might arrive through the mail without a traffic officer or council parking officer ever having been near the offending vehicle.

A new scheme will allow bus drivers to report vehicles parked on bus stops and the Christchurch City Council will issue a parking-infringe-ment notice without even going to the scene. The scheme was

worked out at a meeting on Monday of representatives of the Christchurch City Council, the Ministry of Transport, the Christchurch Transport Board, and the Tramway Workers’ Union.

The deputy general manager of the Christchurch Transport Board, Mr Tony Francis, said the board was “rapt” about the co-operation it had had from the other groups. “The council and Ministry of Transport are falling over themselves to be obliging,” he said.

The scheme will work with bus drivers radioing in to their control room when they find a vehicle parked on a bus stop. The driver will also make a written report, with the registration number of the vehicle, the bus stop involved, the time, and so on. The chief parking officer for the Christchurch City Council, Mr Leslie Pester, said the council would act on information received from the bus drivers and issue infringement notices. Mr Francis said the

Transport Board had also arranged a more drastic measure to deal with vehicles parked on bus stops for long periods. The problem was mainly in the evenings, and oftfen near hotels, he said. A

“The Ministry will tow them away once we radio in and let them know where the vehicles on bus-stops are,” he said. The problem of parking on bus stops had worried drivers for a long time and it was hoped this would help solve the problem, Mr Francis said.