Jones v Wellington City Council

The matter before the Court was a dispute between the applicants, Jones and another, and Wellington City Council. The applicants were issued with infringement notices by the Council for operating unregistered motor vehicles on a road. The applicants sought judicial review of the notices, arguing that they should have been in the form specified in Schedule 1 of the Land Transport (Infringement and Reminder Notices) Regulations 1998 rather than Schedule 4, as they were issued for a stationary vehicle offence. The applicants contended that the notices were invalid because they did not comply with the correct form prescribed by the regulations. The primary legal issue the Court had to determine was whether the notices issued by the Council were valid under the relevant legislation and regulations. Specifically, the Court had to consider whether the notices issued for a stationary vehicle offence should have been in the form prescribed in Schedule 1 of the 1998 Regulations, as argued by the applicants, or in the form prescribed in Schedule 4 of the 2012 Regulations, as maintained by the Council.

The Court considered the relevant provisions of the 2011 Regulations, the 2012 Regulations, and the definition of "stationary vehicle offence" in the Land Transport Act 1998. The Court noted that Regulation 7 of the 2012 Regulations required an infringement notice for a stationary vehicle offence to be in the form set out in Schedule 4, while Regulation 95 of the 2011 Regulations prescribed the form of an infringement notice for an infringement offence under the 2011 Regulations to be in the form set out in Schedule 1 of the 1998 Regulations. The Court concluded that the definition of "stationary vehicle offence" in the Act was broad enough to encompass the circumstances of the applicants' contraventions, and therefore, the notices issued by the Council were valid under the 2012 Regulations. The Court found that the applicants' argument that the notices should have been in the form specified in Schedule 1 of the 1998 Regulations was not supported by the legislation, and accordingly, the notices were valid.

The Court dismissed the applications brought by the applicants. The Court found that the notices issued by the Council were in the correct form as prescribed by the relevant legislation and regulations, and therefore, the applicants' claims for judicial review were without merit. The Court did not make any orders as to costs.