The camp shed that Wayne built
It started with a shed. The shed that Wayne Bingham built.
It has ended in an ugly spat between Ka¯piti caravan owners and their motor campground landlords, power being cut off, lawyers called in, pensioners trespassed and a couple having to find a new home.
What might have been fairly straightforward discussions in November last year over the request to remove a make-build shed has turned into farcical scenes as lawyers Gibson Sheat became involved in the ongoing saga.
Things came to a head when pensioners Wayne and Lorraine Bingham were trespassed from Byron’s Resort in O¯ taki Beach by the campground’s management, despite being owner-occupiers of a caravan that is permanently parked there.
Tony Morrissey, from the campground’s management, claims the Binghams have consistently breached rules in their signed contract, including by building an unsafe shed on-site, leaving him with no other option but to revoke their access to all campground services and pursue a $10,000 penalty rent charge.
But Wayne Bingham, 67, says the decision to switch off power to the couple’s caravan equates to inhumane abuse of elderly people headed in to winter, and the move to restrict access to camp amenities is both unlawful and illegal.
The Binghams are adamant they will not pay any fee demanded of them, and have plans to move to a new campground in Paraparaumu this week after putting their immovable O¯ taki caravan up for sale, in what Morrissey believes may be yet another alleged contract breach.
‘‘We’re getting picked on ... [and] abused by the management. We’re not staying in this toxic environment,’’ Wayne said at the weekend.
But Morrissey is not backing down either, saying he and the other camp management have felt consistently targeted by the
Binghams, and that their disregarding of rules and regulations had made it difficult to do his job properly as site manager. ‘‘It’s very odd behaviour ... [it’s] mayhem,’’ Morrissey said.
The drama dates back to a shed that Wayne Bingham, a builder by trade, constructed on-site next to the couple’s caravan. In November last year Morrissey asked the couple to remove the shed because he said it didn’t adhere to fire safety regulations, and if an incident were to happen he as site manager would be liable.
But Wayne claimed that three years ago, camp management gave verbal permission for him to build the shed, which he says is fire-proof.
However, Morrissey said no document was ever signed in relation to consent for the shed’s build, and he claimed the couple had also been unlawfully parking on another resident’s section without written permission from management.
Wayne Bingham said the couple have been unfairly targeted by management and feel pushed out, as illustrated by them allegedly threatening to remove the pair’s swipe card access, which would have seen them blocked out of the Tasman Rd site altogether. Morrissey said he felt it would be unfair on the other 70-odd residents if he didn’t pursue the penalty fee from the Binghams, as it was set out in the contract, and the other residents were set to benefit as shareholders, he said. But for Wayne, who is a diabetic and takes heart medication, the termination of access to power has pushed him over the edge – the couple have had to ask another caravan owner to help store their refrigerated and frozen food.
Wayne reckons the other residents are ‘‘all behind us’’ – a claim which Morrissey disputes. He said other residents saw the site managers as simply doing their jobs, and it was clear in the signed contract that compliance of rules, including those from management, was required for continued access to common areas and facilities.
It’s understood police have become involved in the dispute several times, however they ruled that the matter was a civil one to be sorted between the parties.