Former Wellington mayor Dame Kerry Prendergast appeared before the Wellington District Court to challenge a $40 parking ticket issued by the city council for parking on a footpath in a slipway off Victoria Street.
Prendergast, who served as mayor from 2001 to 2010 and now works as a company director, argued that the signage in the area was ambiguous and that there were no clear indications that parking was prohibited.
Representing herself, she claimed that she had parked in a paved area without markings or signs and noted that other cars frequently parked there as well.
The case was postponed from July due to a Justice of the Peace falling ill and another recusing himself due to a personal connection to Prendergast.
During the court proceedings, a council witness described the area as a pedestrian route, though Prendergast and her witness, a retired civil engineer, argued that the space was not clearly designated as a footpath.
The council’s lawyer, Katherine Lee, maintained that the council had established the area as a footpath, which Prendergast disputed, calling the council’s descriptions inconsistent. The Justices of the Peace have reserved their decision, with a written judgment expected by mid-November.
