Ticketed over wrong WOF rule

A Tauranga businessman is questioning Tauranga City Council parking wardens' knowledge of new Warrant of Fitness laws after being slapped with a $200 ticket two weeks after the vehicle passed inspection.

Erle Reweti parked his company car at the Harrington House carpark in Tauranga City last Thursday and went to work like normal.

Erle Reweti with the offending WOF ticket. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

He returned and was driving home when he noticed a ticket flapping under the windscreen wiper.

On inspection he found a $200 fine for ‘Not displaying a current Warrant of Fitness'.

As the car is less than 12 months old, Erle was surprised by the ticket and contacted Tauranga Motor Company – which performed the WOF inspection two weeks prior – to question how it was possible.

Under new WOF regulations that came into play on July 1, any vehicles first registered on January 1, 2000 will only undergo WOF inspections once a year, instead of six monthly.

After an initial inspection, new vehicles, less than two years old, are only required to undergo a WOF inspection until the third anniversary of its first registration.

In Erle's case the WOF display on his company car has the 2016 year punched out, in accordance with the new three-year WOF requirement. But the parking officer has applied the old six-monthly expiry rule, issuing a ticket for failure to properly display.

'I went into the place where the warrant was issued and said: ‘Look, either you got it wrong, or the council got it wrong, but I'm not going to be paying this',” says Erle.

A photocopy of the WOF ticket was sent to TCC. Tauranga Motor Company also spoke to council about the new WOF rules for new vehicles, and the ticket has subsequently been waived.

'In fact, what had happened was the wardens hadn't been told, or maybe just this one warden, about the new warrant rules.”

Despite the ticket being waived, Erle says he is still concerned that other motorists may be penalised and hopes TCC wardens are fully informed of the new regulations.

'The biggest concern is the number of people that might have got tickets – especially with new cars and displaying a warrant like mine, that has the year 2016 punched [for being a new vehicle].

'And just for whatever reason they have got the ticket, the law abiding citizens will pay it. It's just not right.”

Tauranga City Council communications advisor Marcel Currin says all parking wardens are up to date with new regulations and this is the only error since the laws came into force on July 1.

Marcel says the parking warden in this instance reverted to the previous process.

'Parking officers sometimes come across vehicles that have mistakenly been issued WOFs for more than one year ahead,” says Marcel.

'In these cases they issue an infringement notice to highlight the mistake, and the ticket is then waived once the new warrant sticker is replaced with a correct date.”

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8 comments

Revenue

Posted on 18-07-2014 12:11 | By YOGI BEAR

All about the revenue, never mind the rules, so how many others have been stung on this?


Marcel is correct!

Posted on 18-07-2014 14:51 | By Watchdog

Yes I inadvertently let my WOF expire by a couple of days and got a ticket - but if you look at the fine print it gives you an amount of time to get the Warrant done, then show Council and they cancel the ticket. A pretty fair system. But boy, $200 would be a stinger for anybody!!!!


lucky

Posted on 18-07-2014 15:57 | By Bevin

Lucky the are not doing the tyre checks .leave the enforcement to police and they stick to keeping people from shopping in town


Revenue as well

Posted on 18-07-2014 18:49 | By R1Squid

I have been parking my motorcycle in the dedicated motorcycle parking in 2nd Avenue since September 2013 without incident. Yesterday, I found a parking ticket attached for failure to display a 'pay and display receipt' I swear, it blew off the dashboard or someone stole it.


Waived?

Posted on 18-07-2014 19:27 | By tish

You waive or forgo enforcing things that the restrictions would normally still apply, you don't waive something that was completely wrong to start with. I think the word they needed was 'rescinded'.


Revenue collectors

Posted on 18-07-2014 19:42 | By Bobby

Touche' Bevin, that is EXACTLY what they are doing, keeping people out of town! Why bother subjecting yourself to the so called authorities who issue as many tickets as they think they can get away with, in order to justify their unproductive jobs? Fraser Cove and Bayfair shops must love these guys!


How much fun.....

Posted on 18-07-2014 21:39 | By GreertonBoy

is it being a council cash cow? Not much.... better get used to it I guess?


So Marcel....

Posted on 19-07-2014 05:41 | By Sambo Returns

If your "wardens" are so up to date with the new procedures, how come this happened at all, was the warden absent or asleep during one of your many seminars?, and how the hell are they going to monitor 2 x hour free parking?, now that is going to be fun>


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