![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/the-government-introduced-sweeping-changes-to-the-countrys-p-4MTL4YM3VBDK5NSIIDZ7Q6JGCM.jpg\")
<\/p>\nInvercargill parking wardens are working in pairs following an increase in bad behaviour after infringement fees went up.<\/p>\n
The city council said there had been several abusive incidents in recent months, and pairing-up meant there was \u201cimmediate support\u201d.<\/p>\n
In October 2024, central government hiked fines nationwide by an average of 70% \u2014 something the council linked last month to a rise in push back.<\/p>\n
Council manager consenting and environment Jonathan Shaw said bad behaviour normally occurred during compliance action or fine enforcement.<\/p>\n
“While officers are professional and experienced in dealing with challenging situations as part of their role, the team has noticed a rising trend of negative behaviour in recent months, including several abusive incidents,” Shaw said.<\/p>\n
“In response to this, officers will sometimes work in pairs to ensure they have immediate support in the case of an incident.”<\/p>\n
Shaw said no one wanted to receive a ticket, but compliance was for the overall benefit of the community.<\/p>\n
Officers were able to use radios and phones when out in the field, and body cameras had been in action since 2020, he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Government introduced sweeping changes to the country’s parking fees in October 2024 (LDR \/ Matthew Rosenberg). (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
Ticketing information provided by the council showed revenue had jumped up by 75% recently.<\/p>\n
More than $1.14 million was collected from 16,504 infringements between October 2024 and June 2025.<\/p>\n
This compared to more than $650,000 from 12,830 infringements for the same period a year before.<\/p>\n
Over $671,000 was collected from 13,341 infringements during the October 2022 to June 2023 period.<\/p>\n
The council did not ticket between February and June 2024 due to an issue with its bylaw.<\/p>\n
As for fines, the Government changes had bumped the minimum amount from $12 to $20 for overstaying.<\/p>\n
Those who overstayed by more than six hours witnessed an increase from $57 to $97.<\/p>\n
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Invercargill parking wardens are working in pairs following an increase in bad behaviour after infringement fees went up.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[67,111,43,139,69,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-25537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-crime-and-justice","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-transport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}