PHOTO
Freedom campers owe the Dunedin City Council more than $65,000 in unpaid fines and much of it is almost impossible to recover because the campers have left the country.
Figures from the Dunedin City Council show from January 2016 to the end of February 2018, 897 infringement notices were issued for offences related to freedom camping.
The council has collected $83,800 for illegal freedom camping since 2016 but is still owed $67,200 in unpaid fines.
A $200 fine is the standard amount for breaching the council's camping control bylaw.
Only 419, or 47%, of fines have been paid; 142 have been voided or exempted and 336 remained unpaid.
Council acting infrastructure and networks general manager Leanne Mash said the council made an effort to collect on every infringement notice it issued.
Most of the fines which remained unpaid had been issued to people who did not live in New Zealand, Ms Mash said.
The council had limited ability to collect from people living overseas, she said.
The number of paid infringements was expected to increase as people received reminder notices and warnings for fines issued in the past three months.
Other councils such as the Queenstown Lakes District Council had used other measures such as wheel clamping to enforce its bylaws, but there were no plans for other methods of enforcement in Dunedin, she said.
Camping in a restricted area in a non-self-contained vehicle was the most common infringement notice, with 477 fines issued since 2016.
Another 341 had been issued for failing to park in the designated area displayed at the site.
The number of infringement notices has fluctuated since the council's camping control bylaw was adopted in 2015.
There were 446 fines in 2016 but the number dropped to 233 last year.
Ms Mash said 2016 was the first year the bylaw was enforced. There was generally better compliance in 2017, which resulted in fewer fines.
But the rate of enforcement had started to climb again.
Because the council anticipated more freedom campers coming to Dunedin, more areas were actively patrolled, which led to the increase.
The council rarely fined the same vehicle twice, which showed issuing infringements had encouraged compliance, which was the ultimate goal, she said.