A private investigator has offered his help after Countdown refused to share footage of a woman’s car getting damaged in its parking lot, saying the supermarket’s “ridiculous” policy only serves the offender.

“In this matter, a hardworking individual is being forced to pay an excess she shouldn’t because of a ridiculous policy that does not only make little sense but does not serve ‘right’,” said Helix Investigations operations director Alex Kersjes, who is offering to take on the case for free.

Kelly Hamilton, of Glenfield, said she parked in the Countdown Hauraki Corner carpark about 9.30am on November 20.

Alex Kersjes has offered his company's services for free, saying he has a "personal frustration" with rules that conflict with common sense.

When she came back out to her car she discovered a dent in the boot. When she asked Countdown management for the carpark CCTV footage for her insurance company, they refused, citing privacy obligations.

It was hard “having to be laden with the [insurance] excess without it even being my fault ... $400 is a lot of money for some people,” Hamilton told the Herald.

The supermarket management told Hamilton they could not provide her with the footage, but could give it to police if an officer requested it. She then asked police to request it, but was told that police do not investigate car park incidents and that too much paperwork was required when they were already too busy with other jobs.

She then tried to ask her insurance company to seek the footage, but did not receive any response from the company.

The Herald contacted Countdown about the incident and was told CCTV footage of a customer or staff member was classified as “personal information” for the purposes of the Privacy Act 2020.

Privacy Principle 11 in the act “limits the disclosure of personal information”, a Woolworths spokesperson said in an email response.

“In our Privacy Policy, we set out how we collect CCTV footage and what we use it for. In accordance with our Privacy Policy, we use CCTV for security, theft prevention and safety purposes and we will only disclose footage to law enforcement where we consider a crime or offence has occurred or where required by law. That does not include the sharing of footage with an individual or their insurance company for civil disputes.”

Kelly Hamilton has been saddled with the $400 insurance excess to fix her car after someone else dented it in the supermarket carpark.

While the Privacy Act is vague on what the definition of “personal information” is, a spokeperson for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said if someone is identifiable in CCTV footage, it is considered personal information. It can then only be shared if one of the exceptions in the act applies.

They said Countdown could “potentially” be in breach of the act if it provided the footage.

After reading about Hamilton’s plight in the Herald, Kersjes said he was “frustrated” by the issue, and wanted to offer his company’s services to Hamilton for no charge.

“If Woolworths will only release the information for law enforcement we will request on the same basis, we often prepare files ready for police prosecution for clients,” he said.

“The police are generally too stretched but when we present them with all the work prepared and complete they proceed straight to the business end.

“Of course, also in [New Zealand], any person, not just the police, can bring a criminal prosecution. So acting for Ms Hamilton with this intent will be enforcing the law and should secure release.

Countdown won't provide the footage that shows how Kelly Hamilton's boot got damaged.

“I think this is an important point to press, and we as a society need to push back on silly rules that contravene common sense.”

Kersjes said he had a “personal frustration” with societal rules that appeared to conflict with common sense.

“Of course, private information should be held and treated with absolute respect and accordingly protected. This matter, though, we have an individual who must have knowingly caused harm and is being protected by a policy that only protects this offender. That just makes no sense.

“Any policy should have room for common sense application. If we can help Ms Hamilton achieve this then that’s a great day for us, and hopefully a step towards a bit more common sense being applied generally.”

Hamilton was delighted with the offer, saying she was “very appreciative.

“Finally, somebody willing to help me out with this,” she said.

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.