‘It’s a rort’: Kiwis wrongly stung for visiting shops twice in a day

A woman who shopped at a major Auckland shopping centre twice in one day says she was wrongly fined for parking at the mall for several hours. 

She is one of many shoppers who have contacted the Herald about being wrongly stung with breaches by parking enforcement companies – something the Commerce Commission says is “an area of concern”. 

The 70-year-old woman, who did not want to be named, said she visited Westfield St Lukes in Mt Albert on the morning of August 31, then left and returned later that afternoon with her granddaughter. 

However, on returning to her car after her second visit, she found a $55 breach notice from Parking Enforcement Services, a division of Wilson Parking, that claimed she had parked for six hours, which is “just wrong”. 

She said she spoke to a parking enforcement officer, who was “adamant that they had me coming in at 10am and leaving at 3pm”. 

“I just knew it was a lie. It wasn’t true.” 

She sent Parking Enforcement Services an email that same day explaining her case, and claimed she hadn’t heard back several weeks later. 

“It’s a rort,” she said. “I’m sure there’s a multitude of people that have just flipped them $50 for being done with it.” 

When contacted by the Herald about her case, Parking Enforcement Services said the mistaken breach notice was “a human processing error” and that the woman had been sent an email that it was waived. 

“The breach notice was waived within 24 hours of it being appealed,” a Parking Enforcement Services spokesperson said in a statement. 

“Parking Enforcement Services monitors a large number of car parks across the country and processes a high volume of movements every single day.” 

Scentre Group, which owns and operates Westfield shopping centres, told the Herald it wasn’t aware of the woman’s case, and encouraged customers to “contact their local centre directly”. 

“Providing a positive and convenient parking experience for our customers is important to us,” a Scentre Group spokesperson said. 

“Our parking arrangements, including free parking periods, are designed to ensure spaces remain available for customers visiting our Westfield destinations and to discourage prolonged parking by non-customers. 

“At most of our Westfield destinations, parking time limits are monitored in person by third-party enforcement officers who patrol our carparks.” 

‘Area of concern for a number of consumers’ 

Other shoppers from across the country have also contacted the Herald about similar cases with malls, supermarkets and small businesses that use a range of third-party parking enforcement companies to monitor carparks. 

Many have expressed concern over the use of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology, which is quickly becoming an industry standard, to enforce carparks. 

“They acknowledge they only have data from one ANPR camera on the site (there are two entry and exit points), but still post out the ticket,” said one person who received a breach for parking at a Pak’nSave in Rotorua. 

Others have also expressed concerns about the burden of proof being placed on the customer who had done nothing wrong and the impact of how parking companies operate on the elderly and the vulnerable. 

One person, who received a parking breach notice at a carpark in Hamilton after their car battery failed, said they were told to provide “proof we had actually shopped in-store” when appealing the fine and described the process as “so stressful”. 

Another person, who was wrongly fined for parking at a Pak’nSave twice in a day, said: “This sort of behaviour, it’ll give little old people heart attacks.” 

Commerce Commission principal compliance adviser Grant McIntosh said “the parking industry is an area of concern for a number of consumers who have reached out to the Commerce Commission”. 

“We regularly speak with different parking organisations as part of a project to encourage compliance with the Fair Trading Act in the parking industry. 

“We encourage all parking operators to display clear and accurate signs, only issue breach notices for people who have breached the terms and conditions, and ensure that terms and conditions are fair.” 

McIntosh said the Commerce Commission also recently spoke to the parking association “to educate operators about the Fair Trading Act”.