Dunedin woman Jill Albert said she was "shocked" to find a $65 ticket for parking over multiple bays when she finished her grocery shopping at Woolworths Dunedin Central.
Her husband, Denis Albert, was with her and was just as astounded.
When the couple appealed the ticket, Parking Enforcement Services said the ticket was actually for parking longer than the 90-minute limit — a claim disputed by the couple — and waived the fine because the couple were genuine customers, saying "therefore, we are happy to advise this breach notice has been waived".
Despite not having to pay, the incident has left a bad taste.
"It’s dishonest of them [Parking Enforcement Services] to not only give us a ticket in the first place — because we were clearly not parked in the way they said we were — but to not even acknowledge they were wrong ..." Mr Albert said.
The couple went home and looked at the pictures the parking warden had taken last week, and found while the parking was not straight, the picture clearly showed the couple’s car fully inside the lines of the carpark.
"When Jill and I got out, I said, ‘You’re parked at a bit of an angle’, then we got out and checked ... I then said ‘Oh no, we’re OK’."
Mr Albert said the pair had not been parked in the carpark longer than 90 minutes to do their grocery shopping.
He believed the company was attempting to place the blame on them, then attempting to make it seem like they were doing them a favour by waiving the fee.
"Let’s just say they owned up straight away and said, ‘Oh, our bad’, there wouldn’t even be a problem — accidents happen."
