But on Thursday, Mike Nicholls hung up his hat, handed in his chalk, and retired after spending nearly 10 years as a Timaru District Council parking officer.
He had enjoyed the job, but walking about 17km each day was starting to take its toll, and while most members of the public he encountered were great, there was always a minority who made it harder to keep the smile on his face.
In his 10 years on the job, he had been shot at with a BB gun, threatened with having his head smashed in and been spray-painted. And there has been ongoing verbal abuse.
But Mr Nicholls still walks around the streets with a smile, greeting people as he passes, giving directions, and explaining parking rules.
He was working security at PrimePort Timaru when the parking officer’s job was advertised in 2011.
‘‘I applied for it, and got it. I just thought it would be a job that I could do quite easily. I like the exercise, walking around. I like the fresh air and not being stuck in an office.’’
Mr Nicholls makes no apologies for the job, nor for those of other council staff.
‘‘People see you as a council worker, and they’ve got it in for the council, because of rates bills and so on, and so you get the flak as well.
‘‘People should know we are just out there doing our job, and for me, it’s been enforcing the parking. If we weren’t moving people on, others wouldn’t get a park in town.’’
But nobody likes getting a ticket.
‘‘One Saturday, I’d got a car for rego and warrant and had crossed the road by Ballantynes, and could hear this person yelling at me. Next thing he went into the boot of his car and put something under his jacket and came across the road yelling and screaming at me, saying he was going to smash my head in.
‘‘Just out of the blue, three people from the public came to my aid, and they said to him, ‘If you don’t behave, we’ll drop you where you stand’.’’
The aggrieved motorist returned to his car, and Mr Nicholls heard the distinctive clunk of a metal object being dropped into the boot.
‘‘If not for the public that day, he would have attacked me with it.’’
And there was the day he was shot at. Luckily, only with a BB gun.
‘‘A bunch of young kids were sitting on the steps of the old BNZ, and one of them yelled out to me, ‘I’m going to shoot you!’. He pulled out of his bag a silver shiny thing that I thought was a real gun. But it was a BB gun, firing yellow pellets, and he fired a shot across the road at me.
"One hit me in the back, and a couple of them landed on the ground, so I picked them up and contacted the police, and they arrived, armed and ready to go.
‘‘My kids used to say to me, ‘Dad, you’ve got to get out of there, it’s a dangerous job’. So they’re quite happy that I’m leaving.’’
Parking officers have been wearing body cameras for a couple of years now, and Mr Nicholls said that had definitely helped. The uniform shirts have an embroidered warning that interaction with the parking officer may be recorded.
‘‘We get a lot of training on how to handle situations, how to react to people. I think the council has done really really well. Anyone wanting to be a parking officer should feel a lot safer than when I first started.’’
Parking officers are often the first port of call for lost visitors to town trying to find locations like the i-Site, the Trevor Griffiths Rose Garden, or other local landmarks.
‘‘Most people we meet on the street are really really nice. We have a lot of positive interactions. Apart from the odd individual, I can’t fault the public at all.’’
Mr Nicholls will turn 65 on April 15 and says he’s got 11 grandchildren he wants to be able to spend time with before he gets too old.
There is a house to paint, and a lot of gardening to do, and he was keen to have time to do the things he wanted to.
‘‘I don’t think I’ll be bored. And if I am, I can always look for part-time work.
‘‘I’ll miss the council staff, we had a lot of fun. I think that’s what I’ll miss the most - the staff were really good.’’
CLAIRE.ALLISON @timarucourier.co.nz
