Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023. - Tonight ` you may take something like easily walking along a footpath for granted, but for some, it's an obstacle course. - So should the councils be doing more to help? The latest in our Limitless campaign. - You're averaging 175 fines a year ` are you happy with that? - And why did this driver pay more to run his hybrid on electricity than petrol? - Oh, you're kidding me. - Plus, we help sort out the case of the missing school bell. (DING! DING!) - I guess it's like a new beginning for the school. - And Buyer Beware ` the Fair Go guide to spotting fake websites. Fake websites are becoming an increasingly common problem, promising so much, but in reality, trying to steal your money, your information or compromise your device. (JAZZ MUSIC) Tena koutou katoa. Talofa lava, and welcome to the show. We open tonight with another story in our ongoing Limitless campaign. This one's about something which many of us do daily, but which some of us are doing badly indeed. - Oh yeah. I've done it occasionally ` half the province does it. It's something you might never have had to think about, but despite it being illegal, in some places, enforcement is woefully lacking. Kaitlin has the story. (SMOOTH MUSIC) - # And I feel like I can do what I want. # - Footpaths or free parking? These drivers don't seem to know the difference. - They know that they can get away with it. They know they're not gonna get fined. - It's not a question of right or wrong... - When you park on a footpath, you're actually putting consequences on to others who use the footpath. - ...but our figures will reveal where in the country fines are being enforced and where they're not. You're averaging 175 fines a year ` are you happy with that? - Holden Colorado. - Liam here's not a Hamilton City Council parking officer, but he thinks he's doing a better job of capturing just who's stopping people in their tracks. - There's many mobility users, elderly and simply children walking to school... - So the 16-year-old has started a petition, lobbying government and councils to ensure our paths are clear and accessible for everyone. With each signature comes a story. - (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) - All good. - Every comment motivates me to go further... and make this world a better place for mobility users. - It appears there's plenty of room to improve. We went to 10 councils up and down the motu ` country ` asking how many fines they've dished out for parking on footpaths each year over the past five years. Just 175 fines are issued in Hamilton on average each year ` compare that to its population of nearly 180,000. So per capita, that's one in every 1000 people getting a ticket under their wipers. Whereas if you lived in Wellington, you'd be eight times more likely to be fined, Averaging 1688 fines, the number shot up by 370 in the year just been, after the city tightened up enforcement to make it a more accessible place. And, yes, the capital does have some notoriously narrow roads, but so do parts of Auckland. Yet, in the past year, just five in every 1000 people were fined. We should point out we only have a year's worth of data for our biggest city. Auckland Transport told us the rest is stored in a way that would require staff to manually check each parking infringement for its type ` and, no, they weren't up for that. Right, let's now turn our attention to New Plymouth District Council, which manages to issue four times more fines a year than Napier and Hastings, despite being relatively similar in size. In the past year, there were 989 fines. That's a jump of more than 800 compared to five years ago. The council says it's in response to calls from the community for greater monitoring of hot spots. Heading back to Hamilton where we saw at least 10 cars on footpaths in the few hours we spent with Liam. - What's more important ` your car being hit or someone risking their life? - We got no answers from the drivers, but the council took our questions. Why is Hamilton City Council one of the least likely to issue a fine? - I guess the infringement data tells one story, but we offer, um, education as our first response. So we do talk to people. And instead of issuing a fine, often, we issue a warning to say, 'Hey, look, this is not OK. 'Next time this warning will be possibly an infringement notice.' - Nevertheless, you're averaging 175 fines a year ` are you happy with that? - We can always improve, and we do have challenges around that, and we do acknowledge that. Resourcing is a big challenge for us. So we only have a certain number of people who can actually enforce our city of 180,000 people. And so with over 1000 streets, we can't be everywhere. - And some of those streets are getting squeezed for space. Last year, the government directed all councils to change the rules for new and existing developments, removing the need for properties to have off-street parking. - The streets are becoming narrower to fit more houses in, and so, as a city, it's what we grapple with every day. - But reinforcements have arrived with the council investing in these new licence-plate recognition vehicles fitted with cameras. - Our wardens will remain in the car to keep them safe, but it just means that we can react faster, be at locations quicker, and not have to actually walk the streets, as you say. - Even when someone gets a fine, it's small change compared to what many of our neighbours overseas pay. If you park on a footpath here in New Zealand, it'll cost you 40 bucks; but in Australia, you can double that in Tasmania. And we're dealing in Aussie currency now. In Victoria, dig deeper ` $110. Add another 20 on to that in ACT. And if that doesn't hurt, you can pay up to AU$275, phew, for illegally parking on a footpath in New South Wales. Auckland Transport says it's told the government 40 bucks is not enough to put people off parking this way. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport expects work on various parking offences and penalties to be progressed either later this year or in early 2024. This should include the infringement for parking on footpaths. - It is ultimately up to councils to determine the most effective approach for enforcement in their region. - If the penalty does increase, Hamilton City Council wants to make it clear it's not about making money. - It's getting people compliant so that they're parking safer on our roads. - So what happens when you take a photo, write down the registration plate, hand it over to council? - Council has basically just said... - For HCC, it's about using trusted evidence ` and it's the same stance other city councils like Auckland and Wellington take too, but not the Tasman District Council. It'll issue a fine if it's sent a photo clearly showing the offence and vehicle rego with the location, date and time. There's only been a few reports so far, but none of those tickets have been challenged by the drivers. What isn't achieved through enforcement falls to peer pressure like, back in Hamilton, from those getting behind Liam's petition. - I wanna up the fines, and I want to actually make sure councils are doing their job. - And up the right for people to get around without going around one obstacle after another. - BOTH: Mm. - You know what? Awareness ` the more we know about the way our actions impact others, the better. - Mm. Now, if you want to help, but you don't want to change jobs and become a parking officer, we've got the next best thing. Check out these things. Living Street Aotearoa have made these. You can pop them under the wipers of offending cars ` rather than writing a kind of a dirty note or having a confrontation with someone ` just to remind people how their parking or your parking impacts others. - That's right. And we'll put the details on our Facebook page. And do check out Kaitlin's piece on 1news.co.nz which includes a full breakdown of those infringement figures. - E haere ake nei, coming up ` how to avoid fake websites. - How's the language? Poor spelling and grammar are telltale signs of a scam site, as is a strange layout. Plus ` what you need to watch out for when buying and electric vehicle. - I was thinking, 'Well, it's gonna be no more than, like, $5,' and so I was quite shocked to see that it was $28. - Kia ora. Nau mai, hoki mai. Welcome back. Now, electric cars, so I saw one bid on Trade Me ` a lot, but, of course, they are expensive. But one of the good things about them, one of the pros is the running cost. - That's right. But that's not been the experience of the driver in our next story. He's learnt that choosing the wrong type of electric vehicle for your needs can end up costing you dearly. Haydo has the story. - I usually end up singing to myself. - Emile Valkenborg's commute is provincial ` Cambridge to Otorohanga. Every day? - Every day, yes. Five days a week. - 50km in 45 minutes, about the same time it takes an Aucklander to travel suburb to suburb. And last year, Emile purchased a hybrid for just this journey. He's worked out... - 50km out of my travel ` out of 100 ` I'll be travelling on green gas. - Green gas ` electricity ` that's the dream. - Reduce the carbon footprint and save a little bit of money, yeah. - Having fully charged his car at home, Emile's plug-in hybrid uses electricity for the first 25 K's before it runs out and flicks to petrol for the remaining 25. - Cut my petrol bill in half, and it helps the environment as well at the same time. - Half petrol, half electricity. Emile's plan ` plug in here in Otorohanga, recharge, and then when he returns from work, he'll be good to go home. But when Emile returned, his cunning plan was in tatters. - Oh, you're kidding me. - Emile estimated, based on how much electricity he'd need, that... - I was thinking, 'Well, it's gonna to be no more than, like, $5'... - It was not $5. - ...and that's why I was quite shocked to see that it was $28. - $28.60 for 25km of electric motoring. - Aren't they trying to get people to look after the planet? I mean... - The inconvenient truth is... - Oh, it'll give me 200 K's plus if I put petrol into my car, yeah. - $28 at the this EV station equals 25km of motoring; $28 of petrol equals 200km. - $1 a kilometre against 13c a kilometre. - It costs 10 times more to fill Emile's car with electricity. - (CHUCKLES DRYLY) It was a bit of a shock. - This wasn't Emile's EV dream. So he contacted OpenLoop, who run the charger. They said... - 'A component of what you're paying is actually a parking fee, 'and you need to contact the council.' - As well as paying for the power, crucially, Emile was paying 25c a minute for the park. - I'm annoyed, because I don't see why I should have to pay a parking fee when I'm already paying to actually put the electricity in my car. - Especially in Otorohanga where... - There's no parking metres anywhere, so it's only just here. - Emile did contact the Otorohanga District Council who said not them, try The Lines Company, the electricity distribution company who owned the charger. They told Emile ` - There is a time component per minute cost. We are... - I was kind of left hanging still. That's why I contacted you guys. - So we went back to The Lines Company and invited them to come and talk to Emile. We'll get back to that meeting soon. - Emile, nice to meet you. - But first... # Thunder... ...it's about now we should talk about AC/DC. - # Ah. # - Not that AC/DC... (LOUNGE MUSIC) - ...electricity AC/DC. Emile's plug-in hybrid charges using AC ` AC equals slow charge, around two hours in Emile's case. - Yeah. - And at 25c a minute for parking, an expensive bill at the charger. Electric-only vehicles use DC ` DC equals fast charging, around half an hour. - You guys tell me when. - Richard Edwards runs EVs & Beyond website. He says plug-in hybrids are good in certain circumstances. - Plug-in hybrid vehicles are fantastic for people who, say, live in the city or live in a town; they do most of their travel within town, and then they have needs for things like towing. - ...but not good if you wanna travel and then recharge. - Ironically, if you'd had a full-battery electric vehicle like I've got behind me, that return trip that he's talking about, he could do that every day for a week before he'd even need to plug in the car. - How do we compare to our neighbours across the ditch? - We are miles ahead. Australia is a long way behind New Zealand when it comes to, particularly, DC-charging. - Yeah, yeah. - Back in Otorohanga, Emile had one burning question for The Lines Company CEO, Mike Fox. - So why do we all have to pay 25c a minute to sit on this car park? - So the reason we have the 25c-a-minute piece is to incentivise people to spend the minimum amount of time they possibly can in the car park and free up this charger for the next people that are rolling through. - Hmm, that seems reasonable, but Emile wasn't finished. - My thoughts are that for me, that's quite high, the 25c a minute to park, because my car takes two hours to charge. - He's right, but Mark returned serve with an analogy about Emile's car. - Having fibre to your house, but a modem that can only deal with dial-up speed. - Emile had more. - People that have got a car that can't do fast charge can still charge here. Otherwise, why else would you have it? - He was on to something ` why provide AC-charging if you don't recommend it? - It is a good point. But again, so that that AC capability here is designed for, you know, much, much higher capacity than this, so... - And it just seems I'm being disadvantaged, because I've decided to buy a car like this that doesn't do fast charge. - Per minute, charging fees at EV stations are becoming less common. So Richard says shop around before dropping your dollars. - Try and plan whatever electric vehicle you're going gonna buy about predominantly charging at home. A car like this one behind me costs $4 to $5 for me to top it up at home; it might cost me $15 or more to charge it when I'm out on the road. - At the moment, I'm running in petrol. - So Emile isn't charging his car in Otorohanga any more. - Well, I'm using petrol, obviously, yeah. - Like all of us, he's hoping the future is cleaner, greener and maybe cheaper. - What do I think I'll do? Well, I'll wait for the prices to come down. - Now, if you think it's rough for Emile, of course, he's gotta pay per minute at the charging station, but those things aren't cheap ` they're over $100,000 each. - Wow. - So the company's gotta make their money back as well. - Look, one of the keys is you've really gotta do your research before you get the car, don't you? And speaking of that, the same applies to using the internet. - We're talking about the dangers of getting scammed by fake websites. Pippa here, she's been busy. She's rounded up some tips to stop you getting caught out. (WHIMSICAL MUSIC) Whether it's toys, travel, delivery services or investment opportunities, fake websites are becoming an increasingly common problem, promising so much, but in reality, trying to steal your money, your information or compromise your device. So here's the Fair Go guide to spotting a fake website. First, check the URL. That's the address bar at the top. Take a close look at the spelling. Has anything been swapped out like O for zero? And make sure there's a padlock, but don't rely on it; scam sites have been known to use padlocks as well. Remember, too, just because a website ends with .nz or has 'nz' in its domain name doesn't mean it's a New Zealand site. How's the language? Poor spelling or grammar is a telltale sign of a scam website, as is a strange layout or a lack of contact details. Although, again, don't rely on that; we've seen phoney websites with fake addresses and phone numbers. If the website's come from a link in an unsolicited text or email, be extra cautious. For example, get an unexpected email from your bank with a link? Then go to your bank's website directly, not through the link. And make sure your antivirus software is up to date. And finally, don't rush. Do some research before buying anything or handing over any personal information. - Can you send that to Mum, please? - (LAUGHS) - She could do with that. - It'll be on the website, which, as you sharp-eyed viewers will know, our website is actually tvnz.co.nz - E haere ake nei, coming up ` the next chapter in the strange case of the stolen school bell. - We started cleaning up our storage, and we came across the bell in a crate. - Kia ora. Nau mai, hoki mai. Welcome back. Now, you may remember a story we ran late last year about the school bell being stolen from Tahunanui School in Nelson. - Yeah, their bright-yellow bell had been rung every school day for almost 80 years, and the kids, the teachers ` the whole community wanted it back. - Yes. Well, we put out the word to try and find the old clanger, and here's Alistar with what happened next. - Tahunanui School's... (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) ...got a new ring to it these days. (DING! DING! DING!) - I guess it's like a new beginning for the school. - A much-needed boost after this. (EERIE MUSIC) Last year, the Nelson school's original bright yellow 100-year-old bell was stolen. - It's people in hoodies. They're quite tall. - At the time, one of the students got in touch with Fair Go, and we helped school principal Barbara Bowen put the call out. - That might be that there's somebody out there that, I don't know, can carve something or can make something or can think of a replacement that maybe can start our new history. (UPBEAT MUSIC) - Ask, and you shall receive. - Hi, I'm Barbara. - John. How are you, Barbara? - Not their original one, but something far more interesting. - We started cleaning up our store room, and we came across the bell in a crate. We saw the programme on Fair Go that your bell went missing, and we thought, 'Well, what are we going to do with this bell? - Oh my goodness. - 'Let's give it to you guys.' - I had no idea that the programme would show us a bell ` to be given as a gift, it's just beautiful, just the kindness, really, of wanting to give us a bell. - And it seems the bell and Barbara were meant to be. - I've seen on here it's got Bowen founder 1848, which is just hilarious, because my name is Bowen. (LAUGHS) So this is my first clue as to maybe where the bell was made, but equally, who bought it and where it could have come from. - Yeah. We don't have any history on the bell itself, so we don't know how it came here, but I would say it's been here for the last 40-odd years. - Can I give it a little ding? - Go for it. (DING!) - Yeah. It reminds me of our bell. (CHUCKLES) We'll look after it for many years to come. - Excellent. That's great. - Thank you so much. - Freshly polished and shiny, off to Whakatu Nelson it went, the car museum even organising for it to be shipped. - CHILDREN: Aue hi! - It's just such an exciting day. I can feel the sense of occasion in the air, really. - Three, two, one... (DING! DING! DING!) - There's no one as excited as this young lady, who first got Fair Go involved. - It's actually quite cool, like, getting a brand-new bell all the way back from 1840. I would say a massive, massive thank you to starting our new history and a big, big congratulations. - And the rest of the school... - It's really shiny, and it's my baby now. It's my pet. - ...resounding approval. - It's really special to me, cos I'm excited for the next people to ring it. - Yeah, I'll be very excited to ring it for my first ever time. - And maybe one of these young scholars will be the one to crack the mystery of the bell's origins. - We're thinking it's probably a church bell. Southward Car Museum thought it came from a shipwreck, which is a possibility, because often bells were reused, recycled. - Wherever it came from, it's clear it's found its home here in Tahunanui. - Oh. - You know, when we watched that story, I was thinking, 'Oh, that bell was just tucked away for so long, and now it will have such a happy life.' - Yeah. It'll be great. It's gonna love Nelson. A huge thanks to Southward's Car Museum, not only for donating the bell, but also getting it to Nelson ` a bit of a deal, so good on them. Well done. - Yes. Amazing. It's always so great when our viewers come up with a brilliant solution. Well, that's it from us tonight. But if you only caught part of the show, you can catch all of it, plus past episodes and some handy consumer information on the Fair Go page on TVNZ+ whenever you want, because we're always here to help. - I don't know if you've noticed, but our programme is all about you, your consumer aches and pains, not the other aches and pains ` we're not that good with those ` but consumer ones, we are really good, so please do get in touch. - Yes. We're on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. You can go to our webpage ` tvnz.co.nz email us ` fairgo@tvnz.co.nz or write to us ` PO Box 3819, Auckland 1140. - Yes, we love those scented letters ` beautiful. Thank you for watching. If you're in Nelson and you've stolen a bell, time to hand it back. Until next week,... - BOTH: ...pomarie. - Do you wanna lift home?