It is the latest example of tension between freedom campers and the Queenstown Lakes District Council over its enforcement of a beefed-up bylaw controlling the activity.
Council regulatory manager Lee Webster said it was one of several incidents in the past few weeks that had included campers ganging up on an officer intending to clamp a vehicle, and the occupant of another vehicle driving off before a clamp could be applied.
In Monday's incident, a staff member was on foot patrol about 2am in Frankton's Allan Cres when he heard his vehicle's windscreen shatter.
He saw someone running from the scene and gave chase, but lost them in the dark.
The incident was ''disappointing'' and had been referred to police, Mr Webster said.
In an earlier incident over the holiday period, campers who had parked their vans in a cluster at Lake Hayes Reserve confronted an officer when he attempted to clamp one of the vehicles.
''The occupier of the vehicle had awakened and come out to challenge them, which in turn had awakened those in the vans in close proximity.''
In another incident at the reserve, the occupier of a vehicle had driven off as an officer began to clamp it.
Mr Webster said he did not want staff ''threatened or hurt'' in confrontations with angry freedom campers.
''The reason we don't knock on the windows to disturb people is because of any potential conflict with officers who are working remotely, late at night, and when people may have been drinking.''
He had told staff to ''back away'' in such situations.
''Safety is paramount, and certainly if people have been threatened, then we would contact the police.''
Although he would be concerned if such incidents became commonplace, they remained a rarity among the tens of thousands of freedom-camping vehicles that visited the district each year.
''We're talking about a minority, but it's unfortunate these offenders are not respecting our community's wishes.''
Of the estimated 10,000 freedom-camping vehicles that visited the district last year, about 20% were non-compliant, he said.
Under the council's policy, visitors can spend the night in certified, self-contained vehicles with their own toilet and water supply in areas
where freedom camping is permitted.
The council has issued more than 500 enforcement notices since last month, while one vehicle has been clamped.
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Comments
Given that Queenstown is the only district in the country having problems to this level, you really do have to wonder if its the campers or the way the issue is being addressed. When you take the approach of "let's issue everyone a fine, even those complying, and tell them to sort it out later", you are going to start pissing people off. I think there are going to be some real hard questions asked of Queenstown about how ethically and legally they handled the enforcement of freedom camping.
So your solution Joejames is to wake up campers and find out if they have a toilet on board before issuing a fine? It seems as though you're advocating vigilante actions because QLDC is 'pissing people off'. Freedom camping is the thing that is pissing people off. It should be banned outright in QLDC, toilet or not, it's not helping anyone but themselves and ruining many areas for other users.
Nope, self contained vehicles display a Self-Contained certificate in the front window, following the same rules of visibility as rego, WoF, and RUC displays. There would be absolutely no need to talk to the owner to know if it is legally self contained or not. You don't know enough about the topic to be commenting if you don't know this fact.
The problem in QLDC is they are issuing blanket tickets to everyone at a site that allows self-contained vehicles. When a camper sais "but I'm certified" the warden refuses to check their certificate and tells the camper to "sort it out later" by contesting the fine. This is negligent and illegal enforcement, and understandably the reason why campers are getting upset.
P.S. No district is allowed to effectively ban freedom camping in their territory. This is very explicitly stated in the Freedom Camping Act. Again, your lack of familiarity with the topic indicates you don't know enough to be commenting.