Woman’s ticket refunded after company learns the reason for the parking violation: She reportedly died and was resuscitated

A New Zealand woman received a parking ticket after her car remained at a supermarket for more than five hours. She was being treated for a cardiac arrest at the time. The parking company initially reduced the $80 notice to $30 after learning about the medical emergency. The supermarket later intervened. It asked the company to withdraw the parking-breach notice, similar to a U.S. parking citation or ticket issued on private property, and refund the money.

The incident happened on July 26, 2026, at a New World supermarket in Ōrewa on Auckland’s Hibiscus Coast. The woman, 54, collapsed in the supermarket parking lot, according to New Zealand outlet Stuff’s reporting based on comments from her father, Keith Wilkinson.

Wilkinson told Stuff that supermarket employees quickly responded after his daughter collapsed. Staff assisted and set up privacy screens around her. Her name has not been revealed in the press.

A fellow shopper stepped in.

According to Stuff, after the woman collapsed with no detectable pulse, another customer began performing chest compressions. Wilkinson said the stranger continued helping until his daughter regained a pulse and St John ambulance personnel arrived.

“The stranger just melted away once my daughter had regained a pulse and St John ambulance arrived on the scene, before anyone could thank her,” Wilkinson told Stuff. He described the stranger’s actions as “truly remarkable.”

After they arrived, paramedics transported the woman to North Shore Hospital for treatment. Wilkinson told Stuff that ambulance personnel later explained that his daughter’s heart had stopped. That meant she had been “technically dead” for a short time.

The medical emergency meant nobody moved her vehicle. The car remained in the New World parking lot for more than five hours, despite a 90-minute parking limit.

Then came the $80 breach notice.

Not long afterward, Smart Compliance Management, the company that manages the supermarket’s private parking facilities, sent an $80 ticket. The family appealed the notice and explained what had happened. Smart Compliance Management initially upheld the “parking breach.” However, the company reduced it to a $30 administrative fee after considering the circumstances.

Reportedly, staff at New World Ōrewa then stepped in and paid the $30 amount into the woman’s account, which Wilkinson told Stuff was “fair.” The matter subsequently reached New World headquarters, which contacted Smart Compliance Management and requested that the breach notice be withdrawn and the fee refunded.

Smart Compliance Management later apologized for the additional stress. A company spokesperson said its initial response did not appropriately account for the circumstances surrounding the medical emergency.

New World Ōrewa owner-operator Steve McClean also apologized. He said the supermarket uses third-party companies to manage parking but acknowledged the situation had caused additional stress for the customer and her family.

“This was a deeply distressing situation for the customer and their family, and I’m sorry this caused them additional stress and inconvenience,” McClean told Stuff. Smart Compliance Management says motorists can appeal a breach notice and submit documentation supporting their claim that the notice was issued in error.

In another near-death situation with a strange outcome, doctors declared an Arizona baby dead after it fell into a pool, only for the infant to show signs of life in the morgue.