A Dunedin teen turned a $12 ticket into a bill for $7000 after she rammed a parking warden's scooter, a court has heard.
Teal Lillie Fraser, an 18-year-old gib stopper, had been living in Moray Pl for some time, and had been trying hard to comply with the parking restrictions there, counsel Jo Turner said.
But on July 12 she came unstuck.
"She simply just lost it in the moment," Ms Turner said.
Fraser appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday, where she pleaded guilty to reckless driving.
The court heard she had stopped her Ford outside her home and was pinged by a parking warden at 10.40am.
Ms Turner said her client believed she had time left on her ticket and waited for the scooter-riding official to make another lap of his route so she could confront him.
Fraser flagged the man down but the victim was "not interested in engaging with her", the court heard.
He drove off and the defendant got in her car.
When Fraser spotted the unmanned scooter she rammed it with her Ford, smashing it into another vehicle.
She told police she acted "impulsively out of anger".
Christchurch Judge Alistair Garland asked how much a parking ticket amounted to in Dunedin.
"I'd say she's shot herself in both feet," he said.
"You have escalated a $12 parking ticket into effectively a penalty of over $7000 and that's really unfortunate."
The judge noted Fraser had an otherwise clean criminal record.
"Parking tickets are issued - sometimes they are fair, sometimes they are not fair, but there is a proper way to go about challenging them. This isn't a good way," he said.
Fraser was ordered to pay reparation of $7352 at $20 a week.
At that rate, it will take her more than seven years to clear the debt.
Judge Garland also banned her from driving for six months.
