Wellington Council cops flak after damaged car sits in carpark for week

RNZ News

13-05-2025

Photo:
RNZ / Jazlyn Whales
An abandoned car, which has sat damaged across multiple car parks on a busy Wellington street for more than a week, is due to be towed Tuesday.
The silver sedan has broken windows, no plates and a piece of police tape wrapped around it, and is parked diagonally across two spaces by Waitangi Park on the corner of Oriental Parade and Herd Street.
The police said, as the car wasn't blocking a roadway or posing a risk to the public, it was not their jurisdiction to tow it, but the Wellington City Council's.
The council told RNZ on Tuesday as it wasn't a traffic safety hazard, it had been giving the owner of the vehicle time to organise its removal - but it had become clear that wasn't going to happen.
The plan was to tow it and put it into storage that day.
Local resident Jose Ubiaga said he had first seen the car a week ago, and he walked past it each morning.
"I just assumed it would be there for a couple of days, not thinking a week later it would still be sitting there, damaged, taking up two parks, and looking like an eye-sore," he said.
His post on social media had garnered a lot of angry comments from other Wellingtonians.
He said it wasn't a good look. "It's little things like this that degrade our city, and don't help us at all," he said. "It's crazy that it's still there."
Councillor Ben McNulty had responded to social media discussion about the car online, and said he had sent a "please explain" request to council staff earlier on Tuesday morning.
Photo:
RNZ / Jazlyn Whales
He said it was clear they were aware of the car, as there was a yellow sticker on the windscreen.
Usually, they waited a period of 48 hours for the owner to make contact, and then towed the vehicle.
"It's just a billboard for council looking like it hasn't done it's job, because it hasn't on this one," he said. "You couldn't have put it in a much more prevalent spot in Wellington if you tried."
But the council said as the car wasn't posing a safety risk - although its location had meant it had attracted a high amount of public interest - it had given the owner some extra leeway to remove it themselves.
"It's obviously become clear that the owner isn't willing or able to do the job so we'll do it and aim to recover costs."