Airport carpark cheats get wings clipped

Roger Moroney
A shortage of car parks brought about by people taking advantage of cheap long-stay rates at Hawke's Bay Airport has led to a new parking payment system which will be introduced early next week.
Airport general manager Nigel Sutton said Hawke's Bay had been one of the few airports left which did not operate a time-based charge system, and because parking was relatively cheap people chose to leave their cars there rather than get rides to and from the airport.
Mr Sutton said a study of the secure car park operation also revealed that some vehicle owners were using it s a cheap and convenient long-term storage facility.
"They come here for reasons other than travel ... we have come across cases where people are using it just to store their cars."
Although a sign at the entrance to the secure park included the words 'Flight Passengers Only' there was no warning for non-compliance.
Airport staff had also come across cases where people living in Auckland and Wellington, who came to Hawke's Bay frequently, stored a car there for when they came to town. While they could continue to do that, they would have to pay for the privilege.
Previously, people could park in the secure area for up to two months at a flat $20 fee.
Under the new system the charge will be $7 a day for the first 14 days and $5 a day after that.
"The new system is fairer and will deter from people parking out here when they do not have to," Mr Sutton said.
Parking in the All-Day area had become stretched as more and more people were taking advantage of both cheaper fares as well as dirt cheap parking for a week.
Previously, a person leaving a vehicle in the All Day section for eight hours paid the same as someone who decided to leave their car there for a week - a $6 flat charge.
From next week, the charge will be $1 for the first hour, rising by a dollar an hour up to $5 for five hours. The $5 charge will stay in place right through to 24 hours, but for every day after that an additional $5 will be added. What had cost $6 for seven days parking will now cost $35. However, the first 15 minutes are free.
The Visitor Car Park will remain with a two-hour maximum tag, but the previous flat fee of $1 will change to $1 for the first hour and another $1 for the second.
Mr Sutton said the new system should ease parking problems at the airport.
He said recently there had been one or two days a week when there was no parking available anywhere.
Under the new system, tickets, automatically issued at the park entrances, would then be used to activate the entry barrier arm. The vehicle owner would later take the ticket to a pay station in the terminal when they wished to leave, and the charge would be calculated on the time they had spent there.
Mr Sutton said the system meant people did not have to look for coins to exit the parking areas as it also accepted eftpos and credit cards.
Staff would assist users until they became familiar with it and a "help" link was being installed.
* Palmerston North Airport offers short-term parking (up to 3 days) at $2 for one hour, then 50 cents each half-hour after that - up to a maximum of $14 for the first 24 hours.
Maximum charge for three days is $26 ($15 at HB Airport).
Long-term parking (minimum 4 days) in a fenced and night locked compound is a flat rate of $6 a day ($7 a day at HB Airport for the first 14 days and $5 a day after that).