New Zealand parking company apologises for fining woman who died and was resuscitated in supermarket carpark

A New Zealand parking enforcement company has issued a public apology after it fined a woman whose heart stopped in a supermarket carpark — and then initially refused to waive the charge even after she explained she had been clinically dead. The incident, involving a 54-year-old Auckland woman, unfolded on 26 July at a New World supermarket on the Hibiscus Coast, and has since sparked widespread outrage.

Woman's heart stopped as her car sat in a 90-minute bay

The woman had parked in a 90-minute parking bay at the supermarket when she collapsed in the carpark on her way inside, suffering a sudden and severe medical episode. A bystander immediately stepped in and began performing chest compressions while supermarket staff rushed to assist. According to her father, Keith Wilkinson, the anonymous Good Samaritan quietly disappeared before anyone could identify or thank her once his daughter had regained a pulse and St John Ambulance paramedics arrived.

Paramedics told a shaken Wilkinson that his daughter's heart had stopped and that, "momentarily, she was dead." She was transported by ambulance to North Shore Hospital, where she received hours of medical attention. Her car remained in the supermarket carpark for 341 minutes — well over five hours — while she fought for her life.

Parking company issued fine, then refused to fully waive it

A few days into her recovery, the woman was confronted with an $80 parking breach notice in her mailbox, issued by Smart Compliance Management. She contacted the company and explained the extraordinary circumstances behind her overstay. Rather than cancelling the fine, the company initially reduced it to $30 and upheld the notice.

In its correspondence to her, the company stated: "Customers are entitled to 90 minutes of parking, and your vehicle was parked for 341 minutes. Having considered your appeal, we decided to uphold the Breach Notice as we believe it was correctly issued."

Wilkinson described the demand as "offensive" given what his daughter had endured, but said she ultimately paid the reduced amount because the dispute was adding to her stress during a difficult recovery.

New World supermarket stepped in when the parking company would not

The owner-operator of the New World store, Steve McClean, said his staff intervened as soon as they became aware the fine had been issued. He said the store contacted Smart Compliance Management and formally requested the notice be withdrawn and the already-paid fee refunded. When the company declined, New World paid the woman the $30 out of its own pocket.

"This was a deeply distressing situation for the customer and their family," McClean said. "It's important that parking rules are applied fairly but with common sense — given the circumstances, I completely understand why the customer was upset."

Apology issued after public backlash over parking fine

Following media coverage of the incident, Smart Compliance Management released a statement acknowledging its handling of the case had fallen short. The company apologised for the "additional stress caused to this individual following their medical emergency" and conceded its initial response had not appropriately considered the circumstances.

"We have since reinforced our processes and provided further guidance to our team to support consistent decision-making in exceptional circumstances," the statement read.

The case has drawn attention to the rigid enforcement practices sometimes used by private parking companies, and questions about whether adequate human judgement is applied when customers raise genuinely exceptional appeals. Cases like this — where the consequences of rule enforcement collide with extreme personal circumstances — continue to test public patience with automated and inflexible compliance systems. For a broader look at notable events shaping New Zealand in recent years, context on the country's evolving public discourse is widely available.

For Wilkinson and his daughter, the episode added an unwanted layer of bureaucratic distress to what was already a traumatic brush with death — one that, in his words, should never have happened at all.