DUNEDIN COUNCIL PAINTS ZEBRA CROSSING ON MOSGIEL MAN'S DRIVEWAY
Dallas now has to give way to himself when reversing the Hilux.
A Mosgiel homeowner returned from the dairy on Wednesday to find council contractors halfway through painting a zebra crossing across his driveway.
Dallas Petrie, 54, had been gone twenty minutes. "I asked them what the fuck they were doing. They asked me what I was doing there. Went round in circles for a bit."
The foreman produced a laminated map and said the crossing was "as per the drawing". Asked if anyone had walked the site first, he said they had, but it was dark, and the driveway "looked council-ish".
A neighbour, Raewyn, watched from her kitchen. "They were there at seven. Dallas got back at half past. By then they were onto the second stripe. I did wonder. But you don't interrupt a man with a roller."
A Dunedin City Council spokesperson confirmed the crossing was in the wrong place. Removing it would need a separate work order, a separate contractor, and "likely a separate financial year".
Petrie has been told to drive carefully across his own driveway. He has also been told the stripes are, technically, his problem now.
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Reader Letters
Garry (Halswell)
Back in my day, we knew what a footpath was. Didn't need a council map to tell us the obvious. If it looked like a driveway, it was a bloody driveway!
BarryBishopdale
Another classic council cock-up. They probably spent all the ratepayer money on the maplamination workshop instead of hiring someone who can read maps.
Raewyn_Mosgiel
I saw the whole thing unfold! Poor Dallas now has a driveway that looks like the main street. He's got every right to be grumpy about having his Hilux caught up in this mess.
Trev_Hornby
Did council even check their GPS coordinates? Can't tell the difference between a driveway and a road. This is why I never trust a bureaucrat with a paintbrush.
Margaret_F
Sounds like the Gerald Memorial Garden saga all over again. It's easier to change the laws of physics than to get the council to admit faster than a year that they've made a mistake.
couchgremlin
Lol. Dallas, you're the new main road!