There are mixed messages on the printed tickets produced by some Levin parking meters.
Shopper Desmond Patching paid for his parking at a meter on Queen St East, and the ticket it printed clearly said "Receipt Only - not needed for display purposes" at the top.
However, when he turned it over, Patching saw, in bold black on the reverse, the statement "this ticket is not valid unless placed on dashboard with expiry time visible outside the vehicle. Failure to do so may render you liable to prosecution."
The contradictory information has been a source of multiple queries to Horowhenua District Council, and Patching said it was confusing.
However, council compliance lead Megan Leyland confirmed that tickets do not actually need to be displayed and are just a receipt, despite the warning on the reverse side.
She said some of the meters in Levin had been loaded with old paper rolls, which had the statement on the back.
"The meters were put in about five years ago and the paper that was originally purchased with them had printing on the back in light grey stating that the receipt needed to be displayed," she said.
About 12 months ago the supplier printed the copy in black to make it more noticeable, resulting in a number of queries from customers about whether the receipts needed to be displayed.
"Following on from that feedback we sourced meter paper that does not have anything written on the back, although some machines may still contain the old paper," said Leyland.
She said council definitely did not require the receipts to be displayed, and no one had been fined for failing to display the ticket, as it was not an offence.
If any members of the public have a query about the meters, receipts or parking rules they should contact Horowhenua District Council.