Westmere parking dispute erupts as dairy owner confronts Taco Loco patron inside restaurant
Tensions over a 10-minute parking bay in one of Auckland’s richest suburbs have boiled over, with a dairy owner storming into a taco restaurant to grill diners over who parked outside his shop.
A recent post on a local community page described an altercation between Garnet Dairy owner Pragnesh Patel and a female diner who had left her car in the prime parking spot, alleging the incident ended in tears.
However, both Patel and one of the owners of the newly opened branch of Taco Loco in Westmere, Roger Moraes, have denied that the frustrated Patel raised his voice during the incident.
Speaking to the Herald separately on Wednesday, both men said the short-term car park had been an issue since Taco Loco opened three weeks ago.
Moraes said he told Patel from the first week of business to come into the restaurant and speak to him or the manager if a restaurant patron was overstaying in the park.
“We’ve spoken with him a few times and asked him to come straight to management if there’s an issue, so we can try to find the people parking there,” Moraes said.
“But [Friday] night, I think [Patel] was a bit upset. He went to the tables, pointing fingers.”
Once Patel found the woman who owned the car inside the restaurant, the pair moved outside, Moraes said.
Patel claimed he did not raise his voice or swear at the woman, but he did ask her to move her vehicle.
“She got very angry, saying lots of bad words. I didn’t say bad words. I was calm.”
He said he showed her the side road beside the dairy, which had lots more street parking.
Patel confirmed he had visited the restaurant about three times since it opened to speak to managers about patrons’ cars.
“I was given a council number. I tried to call it, but they weren’t doing anything quickly. I had to take matters into my own hands,” he said.
Patel said he felt justified walking into the restaurant and claimed he had dealt with issues over the car park, which is directly in front of his business, for years.
Parents at nearby Westmere School, also overstayed in the park which he said affected his livelihood.
However, following Friday night’s events, Patel said he would no longer confront Taco Loco customers at their tables, and would instead speak to Moreas or the manager.
He was thankful for the A4-sized sign posted at the entrance to the restaurant, warning patrons not to park in front of the dairy or risk being towed.
Moraes said he did not want Patel to “get into any trouble”.
“We own a business too ... we know it’s tough out there. We don’t want to be doing anything that hurts him; we want to work with him.”
Both men said suggestions on social media that police had been involved following the incident were inaccurate.
A police spokesperson said they had no record of police attending the address on Friday night.
An Auckland Transport spokesman said it had received three complaints about the park in the last six months.
“These resulted in an infringement issued for parking over the time limit, a verbal warning with the vehicle moved by its owner, and one case where we were unable to attend before the restriction ended,” the spokesman said.
“This was resolved without enforcement.”
Overstaying in a 10-minute park is a scalable offence, the spokesman said, with fines starting at $20 for up to 30 minutes and rising to $97 for more than six hours.
Rachel Maher is an investigative reporter covering Auckland issues and education. She started at the Herald as a breaking news journalist in 2022, before joining the Auckland team this year.
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