Revealed: How seriously (or not) malls and supermarkets treat mobility parking abuse

“I’ll only be five minutes!” 

“I’m just quickly picking up someone.”

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t realise.” 

You know the ones: the usual answers we get when we approach someone parked in a mobility spot without a permit outside our local supermarket, shopping centre or mall. 

So while it’s great news that the Government has announced a 400% increase in fines for parking illegally in public mobility parks, we know that the real culprits can often be drivers who loiter in mobility spots within privately-managed car parks. 

Shopping mall and supermarket customers are notorious for illegally parking in mobility parks without a permit.

Given that the new fines aren’t applicable in private parking complexes, we contacted Aotearoa’s major supermarket chains and shopping malls to ask them whether they’re going to be following in the footsteps of the Government’s crackdown on mobility parking pests. 

Let’s just say, we were less than impressed. Here’s what they had to say.

Westfield: 2/10

Based on Westfield’s response, we can only assume the shopping mall chain does not issue warnings or hand out fines for cars parked in mobility spots without a permit at all. 

They told us: “We have accessible parking spaces available to customers across all our Westfield New Zealand destinations. These parking spaces are clearly marked and located close to centre entrances.” 

The spokesperson said having accessible parking available was an “important part of our customer experience”, but did not elaborate how they monitor the mobility parks. 

They continued in their response that: “Our team are always available to assist customers as they require. Customers can visit their local centre website for more information on the accessibility services we provide.”

When followed up on who this “team” is and how disabled people can contact them if they have mobility parking issues, Westfield did not respond.

Woolworths: 3/10

Woolworths have 185 stores across Aotearoa where they control the car parks. Each supermarket car park has accessible spots because “mobility parking is required to comply with the Building Code”, a Woolworths New Zealand spokesperson said. Read: We only provide mobility parks because we are legally required to. 

If the misuse of a mobility park is reported to supermarket staff, one of the team will, according to the spokesperson, “often” make an in-store announcement asking the vehicle owner to remove the vehicle. The spokesperson said vehicles are not towed or clamped, but a driver may be issued a breach notice. 

Further intervention is only considered in the context of the “potential reaction” of the vehicle owner, the spokesperson said, as there have been instances where intervention has resulted in “aggression” towards staff. 

While it’s reasonable to be concerned about possible aggression towards their staff, imagine how disabled people and their whānau feel when they’re left to monitor mobility parking abuse on their own, because the owner of the car park refuses to enforce their own rules. 

Foodstuffs: 4/10

Foodstuffs, which owns Pak'nSave, New World and Four Square, has more than 500 supermarkets across the motu.

While a spokesperson said the company “understand[s] that visiting a supermarket can be challenging for those with mobility issues” they have no central policy to monitor mobility parking as each store is responsible for their own car parks. The spokesperson did not answer questions regarding fines if car parks are misused. 

The spokesperson said they “support” the Government’s announcement to increase fines for misuse of public mobility parks, but Foodstuffs doesn’t plan to alter its current approach to mobility parking.

Instead it hopes the Government’s change will mean less people misuse Foodstuff’s own private car parks. “We believe this change will help raise awareness and encourage customers to respect mobility parking spaces.”

The Foodstuff’s spokesperson said if anyone has concerns about mobility parking at one of its stores, they can contact the store’s customer services team who are “ready to assist”.

Kiwi Property: 7/10

Kiwi Property owns six shopping centres across the motu, including LynnMall and Sylvia Park in Auckland and The Base in Hamilton. However, each mall uses a different parking agency so the monitoring of mobility parks differs from centre to centre.

To monitor their mobility parks, security guards manually check and cars without a mobility permit will either be issued a warning or reported to the parking agency. The standard infringement notice is $65 if there is a breach of a car without a permit in a mobility car park. 

Regarding the Government increasing illegal mobility parking, a Kiwi Property spokesperson said: “We are supportive of increases to public parking infringements and are reviewing our infringement policy with our contracted parking agencies.”

The Kiwi Property spokesperson encouraged customers to report misuse of mobility parks to the mall’s customer service or centre security.

So, in what is both a shocking and utterly predictable discovery, it turns out our major supermarkets and shopping malls across New Zealand don’t care who parks in their mobility spots. Apart from Kiwi Property, it appears there are no mobility parking policies, punishments or fines for parking in them without a permit. 

In many ways, this bleak state of affairs is indicative of many areas of our lives where a lack of comprehensive accessibility legislation means we have to rely on the goodwill of others. This is a dangerous position to put our communities in, because when the public don’t do the right thing, and we ask them nicely to do so, we can quickly find ourselves in a life-or-death situation.

Of course, all this could be rectified quickly, if those with the power to effect change cared enough about our people to do something about it. Owners of private car parks could design effective, equitable and well-enforced accessible parking policies. The Government could listen to disabled people and implement comprehensive accessibility legislation. And the public could do the right thing and leave these parks for those who need them. 

Until then, we must avoid the temptation to address parking confrontations directly, and continue to raise mobility parking misuse with the owner of your local supermarket or mall. We’ll get there eventually, if we all do our bit.

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