Small town fights back against street racers
Locals in the Northland town of Moerewa are taking it upon themselves to clean up burnt out cars and scorched rubber left behind from street racers. Resident Pamela-Ann Simon-Baragwanath spoke to Charlotte Cook.
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RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Mobility parking permit holder Derek Cossey was incorrectly issued fines, revealing a bigger issue
By Tara Shaskey, Open Justice multimedia journalist of Derek Cossey has had one of his fines overturned, but has not received a response from Auckland Transport about a second one. Photo: Sylvie Whinray / NZME Derek Cossey has "old rugby player knees", which significantly limit his mobility. A small relief for the 67-year-old Onehunga man is his parking permit, which - when displayed in his vehicle - allows him to park in dedicated mobility spaces or for double the time shown on time-restricted carparks in Auckland's on-street parking areas. Recently, he has received two infringement notices from Auckland Transport (AT), because its new automatic number plate recognition technology, used for parking enforcement, does not recognise mobility permits. He is not alone. It is a "big issue" and one that "greatly concerns" CCS Disability Action, the primary provider of about 180,000 permits. BJ Clark of CCS Disability Action said other councils also used the technology and he had been contacted by up to 30 permitholders nationwide, who had been incorrectly fined. Clark said CCS was not consulted before AT launched the technology and the service was "desperately" trying to find a solution for its permitholders. AT has recognised the issue and said it was also trying to find a solution. For Cossey, the situation has been extremely frustrating. Last year, he received a fine by post for exceeding the displayed time restriction in an on-street carpark. However, his permit allowed him double the displayed time and he had moved on before that time was up. He managed to have the fine overturned, but said it was not easy. "It must have taken me 4-6 emails backwards and forwards to get them to quash the ticket. "On top of that, it was like they were reprimanding me and saying 'We'll do that in this instance'." Then he got another ticket in the same circumstances more recently. He has yet to have it overturned. Emails, seen by NZME, to Auckland Transport about the ticket went unanswered and the matter was referred to debt collection agency Baycorp. CCS Disability Action issues about 180,000 mobility parking permits nationwide. Photo: Sylvie Whinray / NZME Cossey had to explain the situation to Baycorp and hoped to get that issue resolved. "I've had to go through the wringer." He was concerned about AT's lack of communication in his case, saying he had asked what it was doing to resolve the parking permit issue, but had not received a response. "They never come back and say, 'Look, we're really sorry that this has happened. We didn't think about it in the first place, but we're trying to find a way around it'. None of that. "It's just ignorance. They're a law unto themselves, it's so frustrating to deal with them." Clark said AT launched the technology without consultation with CCS Disability Action. "The first thing we knew about it was when this problem started. It is a big issue and one that concerns us greatly. "I'm intrigued by how the council gets away with issuing a ticket to a person who is legitimately parked. It seems to me a little bit strange." The service has since met AT, but Clark said an agreeable solution had not yet been found. AT's solution of registering number plates against a permit was less than ideal, he said. Parking services group manager John Strawbridge said Auckland Transport was working on a solution to the mobility parking problem. Photo: Chris Gorman / NZME "That sounds like a good way to solve the issue, but from our point of view, it's not. "We issue a permit to a person, not a vehicle number plate, and we don't want people to be able to have more than one vehicle being permitted to use that one permit. "It opens up the system to abuse." Clark said registering vehicles could also pose a problem for older permitholders, who might not remember to use the right vehicles, if they had multiple registered vehicles. Permitholders visiting Auckland might not be recognised. "It restricts the ability for people to use the permit in the way that we give it out," Clark said. "That is, it shouldn't be controlled to one vehicle, it should be controlled to wherever that person is." The service made other suggestions to AT, like rolling out permits that a mounted device on the council's vehicles could scan, but Clark said that method would need to be developed and there were questions about who would bear the costs. "We are desperately trying to find a solution." AT, which launched the technology in 2019, recognised it was a "complicated situation". John Strawbridge, its group manager of parking services, said: "Our preference is to manage mobility spaces by a parking officer, on foot, so that they can sight whether a vehicle has a current mobility permit displayed. "Sometimes the permits are hard to spot. "However, our camera cars also issue fines to vehicles parked in a mobility spot, with or without a permit, as we do not have access to digital data on active permits." The issue was that the permit was for a person, not a vehicle, and the person could ride in multiple vehicles. "We know this isn't a great experience for mobility permitholders and we encourage anyone who has received a fine in error to contact us to see if it warrants being waived." Strawbridge said AT was working on a solution that would allow Auckland permitholders to apply for a digital permit through AT's Park app. The e-permit would enable people to add all vehicles they intended to use to the AT Park app and switch between them. AT has also sought access to the CCS database to confirm active permits. "Our proposed solution will address many of the challenges experienced by permitholders and, when it's ready to be rolled out, we will be reaching out to them to provide more information. "There may be some more improvements needed and we are committed to making continuous improvements." AT confirmed the first of Cossey's fines was waived, but maintained it had not received any correspondence from him on the second. However, after "a bit more digging", it found his emails. It said it would review the matter and respond directly to Cossey. -This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
A-Z of Aotearoa: E is for Electric Bikes
Today we continue our way through the A-Z of Aotearoa with the letter E. Our focus is on E-bikes which have surged in popularity in New Zealand over the past five years or so. Joining Jesse to take us through their popularity, Oliver Chapman, founder of Hikobike , which is one of the leading designers and importers in New Zealand, and Hamiltonian and e-bike enthusiast Richard Graham. Photo: creative commons - pixabay - ebikeisrael
RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
Vehicles stolen after NZTA breaches privacy of 1000 owners
Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas A privacy breach exposed the details of nearly 1000 people in a Transport Agency database over the course of 12 months. The agency said the breach was suspected to have resulted in at least 13 vehicles being targeted for theft. It admitted the problem to RNZ after one of the people affected contacted RNZ. The agency said the problem involved the agency's Motochek system, which allowed registered users to electronically access information held on the Motor Vehicle Register. "NZTA became aware of the breach in May 2025, via a customer complaint and through police as a part of an ongoing investigation. We determined that the unauthorised access resulted from the Motocheck account of an ex-employee of Auckland Auto Collections Ltd being used to access people's names and addresses from the MVR," it said in a statement. "To date we have determined that names and addresses of 951 people were accessed improperly over the 12 months to May 2025, and that at least 13 of these vehicles are suspected to have been targeted for theft." The agency said it was contacting potentially affected people to advise them of the breach, update them on actions being taken to address the situation, and to provide support and advice to address their concerns. "We have sincerely apologised to those affected for the inconvenience and distress caused by the breach," it said. NZTA said it was also assisting police with their investigations of the breach and vehicles which might have been targeted for theft. It had also notified the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. NZTA said it had systems and processes to protect peoples' privacy, including the terms and conditions which authorised users were expected to meet if they accessed the register. "Work is underway to improve the protection of personal information within our registers, with a priority to address risks of harm. This work will involve improvements across policy, contractual, operational and digital aspects of register access," it said. A person affected by the breach was told in a message from NZTA that their full name and address were accessed last year. "We have been unable to confirm the reason why your name and address was accessed. If you feel that your personal safety is at risk, we encourage you to contact NZ Police directly," the message said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
