OPINION: Dude, where's my car?

John Landrigan | 11th November 2009

First up, a declaration of interest: if there is a villain in this sad story, then I also stand accused.

It was an innocuous, but admittedly ill-advised, arrangement to travel overseas and park a car on a quiet cul-de-sac under a mate's inattentive care. But then, who would think Auckland City Council would remove a legally parked, fully-warranted, registered vehicle ... and crush it?

The old work vehicle was removed because one neighbour complained it was parked in front of their property for too long... and it had cobwebs.

In January, a mate of mine, who's too embarrassed to front up in this story, rented out his Waiheke Island home over the summer and left for an overseas adventure. The problem for him was where to park the Land Rover he towed his boat with while during his three month absence.

He parked it outside my home in St Marys Bay.Well, not quite outside, because there is no off-street parking in front, but close enough. This vehicle was not abandoned, just parked in several locations on the street. I used it to tow a trailer, drove it to the shops, went to the beach. His partner used it to house-hunt and to shop and we used it together two days just before it was confiscated.

On this day, I watched her drive off.

This was a costly mistake - $5500 worth of grunty English precision was unceremoniously flattened.

In fewer than 12 months, a new contractor for Auckland City Council crushed 251 cars. Nine of those vehicles were warranted and registered.

Judith "Crusher'' Collins would be impressed. It took her months of squabbling in Parliament to entitle the courts to crush boy racers' cars when used illegally.

Even after implementation, offenders have to break the law three times in four years before their Nissan Skyline could be taken off them and flattened. The numbers are not expected to top 20 a year.

Admittedly, the contractors did send a letter to the registered owner's address, but, of course, he wasn't there.

The contractors, who receive $100 for the tow and $10 per day for storage (that's less than 10 per cent of value) did not question the complaint, did not re-check the odometer and left nothing on the vehicle declaring doom was imminent.

In their defence, the contractors claim the cobwebs made the otherwise tidy car appear
abandoned.

"The photographs demonstrate the presence of a spider web. This was taken as evidence that the vehicle had not been moved in some time,'' a council staffer wrote the owner.

The fact was, the vehicle was a work hack based mostly in Waiheke Island where water for washing vehicles is at a premium. Spiders can whip up a cobweb in a few hours.

Councillor Ken Baguley says the law states reasonable effort must be taken to find and inform the owner.

"I have been advised of the sequence of events and believe that council officers have followed a correct process,'' he says. "Council visited accessible properties in the street, dropped letters in letterboxes near the vehicle, and sent letters to the legal registered owner. The car was impounded for 35 days and no one attempted to locate it. A simple phone call to the council helpdesk would have revealed its position.''

Tragically for the tired, roadworthy Land Rover - and my mate's sense of humour - no letters or doorknocks came to me or the block of 20 flats nearest the ill-fated vehicle.