'It's a racket': Why a man got $96 fine when getting two coffees

3 years ago by ∟⊔⊤∦∣≶ to c/newzealand

“I know coffee’s got more expensive, but not that much,” said Bay of Plenty painter Pete Wise, who is one of many that have been issued a parking fine while purchasing a brew.

So let me get this straight...

Lease some piece of gravel and put a shitty drive thru coffee stand on it. Fine people when they drive thru to get the coffee. Get $$$.

It's so simple! Instead of selling $5 coffees, you're selling $100 'parking' fines! Genius!!

Anyone else want to go in on this with me?

idiomaddict 26 points 3 years ago

The Auckland-based owner of BeanNGone, Steve Wood, told Stuff that he’d originally contracted Parking Services Ltd, because he was having issues on the land with people parking in front of the truck, or stopping to urinate.

“It seemed easier to hand it over to a local company. It’s not like I benefit from the fines. It’s become a headache and taking up my time as people keep contacting me.” […]

Owner of Parking Services, Jake Thomas, said he didn’t believe people’s reasons.

“They’re all liars. Give someone a parking ticket, and they will come up with no end of excuses.”[…]

Stuff relayed to Thomas the definition of parking, which involved leaving the vehicle or switching off the engine.

He disagreed.

“You must be stupid if you don’t know how parking works, if you put your wheels on private property, doesn’t matter how long or if you keep the engine on, you’re going to be fined. I have a business to run, and I'm here to make money.”

What a fucking parasite. The coffee shop owner thought they were taking normal steps to keep people from pissing in their parking lot, then they wound up with someone who’s so morally corrupt, they don’t realize they should be ashamed, or at least not incriminate themselves. I feel awful for Steve wood, who’s probably lost a LOT of business because he thought he was doing the right thing.

I’ve never been to New Zealand, but this is predatory and dishonest (and Jake Thomas clearly doesn’t know what parking is), so it’s got to be illegal, right? I assume they have a common law system, where this would either be fraud (depending on how much Thomas talks) or the parking fees would be waived.

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FiskFisk33 11 points 3 years ago

Mr Prosser said: "You were quite entitled to make any suggestions or protests at the appropriate time you know." "Appropriate time?" hooted Arthur. "Appropriate time? The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday. I asked him if he'd come to clean the windows and he said no he'd come to demolish the house. He didn't tell me straight away of course. Oh no. First he wiped a couple of windows and charged me a fiver. Then he told me."
"But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine month."
"Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them had you? I mean like actually telling anybody or anything."
"But the plans were on display ..."
"On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
"That's the display department."
"With a torch."
"Ah, well the lights had probably gone."
"So had the stairs."
"But look, you found the notice didn't you?"
"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard."

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Ilovethebomb 16 points 3 years ago

They've got absolutely no legal basis for those fines, and anyone who pays is a mug.

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liv 13 points 3 years ago

She received a reply that she had to pay the fine on time, or penalties would be added, and the courts were mentioned.

Sounds good. This is the moment you get in first and preemptively take them to the Disputes Tribunal (small claims). They don't have a leg to stand on, and as they are not allowed to use lawyers in there I think you'd get a fair result.

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SamC 7 points 3 years ago

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