Parking ticket blitz after increasing complaints in Queenstown suburbs

A pre-dawn parking ticket blitz by a council contractor resulted in 26 tickets being issued to Hanley's Farm residents on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Queenstown Lakes District Council says enforcement of parking rules has increased in the neighbourhood due to an increase in the number of complaints received there.

A particular problem: parked vehicles hindering kerbside rubbish collections.

"Enforcement took place Friday morning to assist with the waste collection schedule which begins at 7am," the spokesperson says.

All the tickets were issued between 5am and 7am.

Hanley's Farm was not the only neighbourhood where residents woke up to early-morning parking fines last week - a parking officer also did the rounds of Lake Hayes Estate on Friday and Saturday.

According to the council spokesperson the cause of complaints there is generally people parking over footpaths.

Five offenders were issued with tickets in a 15-minute hit from 7.30am on Friday.

Further enforcement action was taken on Saturday morning - with at least one ticket dished out prior to 5.45am.

The spokesperson says the council's parking team is not targeting specific areas, but responding to "an increase in non-compliance".

"This is often brought to our attention via complaints from members of the public, as was the case recently for Hanley’s Farm and Lake Hayes Estate."

Visits like the ones last week are in addition to the scheduled rounds of parking officers, and the location and timing of them will vary depending on "when and from where" complaints are received, the spokesperson says.

A Lake Hayes Estate resident tells Crux they find it hard to do the right thing.

They generally park their family electric vehicle outside their garage overnight to allow it to charge and, in doing so, it extends over their property boundary and onto the footpath by approximately a third.

Last Friday, they woke up to a ticket on their vehicle.

"I walked down the street and saw other people had parking tickets on their vehicles too."

They say they understand their behaviour is "a technical infringement".

"But our car is not entirely blocking the footpath, and people can still get around it."

It is their view the tight design features of the suburban streets make it harder for residents to safely accommodate their vehicles, especially in cases of shared housing or larger households.

"If you park out on the road, you're essentially impeding the ability for vehicles to move around or down the street."

They say the parking officer was driving a Cougar Security car and had to park over two driveways and a fire hydrant to exit the vehicle and issue their ticket.

"I know that's kind of petty...but we're talking technical infringements...it's like knock for knock."

In January, Crux reported the story of a Queenstown builder issued a ticket while their 4WD was parked partly on the grass verge outside their property for an oil change.

Main image (Supplied): A council parking officer ticketed this vehicle hanging over a footpath from a private residential property early Saturday morning.