Early adopters of the technology include Big Save Furniture in Hastings, and The Gin Trap, Casa, and Langley Twigg Law in their West Quay, Ahuriri shared car park.
The cameras read vehicle licence plates, tracking when vehicles enter and exit a facility, and identify who is using the parking area, legally or otherwise.
The Gin Trap owner Dave Simmonds said the lack of car parks around the West Quay area meant it was a necessity to introduce the system to ensure their customers had free and accessible parking.
“Which they appreciate, understand and support,” he said.
Simmonds said there was an iPad at the front desk/bar of his restaurant where customers were asked to enter their car registration if they were using the car park while dining.
He said on the “very rare” occasion that customers slip through and don’t register their number plate, they may receive an infringement notice in the mail.
However, Simmonds said the affected customers then make the business aware, and they will let the parking company, Parking Services, know to waive that infringement notice.
“Which they always do,” he said.
Hawke’s Bay Today spoke to one customer of Big Save in Hastings who had received a ticket because of the new system, despite shopping in the store.
That was refunded after customer inquiries.
CEO of Gorilla Technology and tech commentator Paul Spain said to some degree, people were just going to have to get used to the new technology.
But the responsibility lay with the businesses introducing it to clearly articulate to their customers how it works.
“I think that those who are putting these systems in place, they need to have that empathy for their customers,” he said.
“New technology, it’s going to keep coming, it’s going to change the way that a lot of things work.
“But new technology should be rolled out in a manner that doesn’t just benefit the owner of the car parks ... but is done in a fair and appropriate manner.”
A Parking Services spokesman said the use of automatic number plate recognition cameras was a popular choice among his clients, allowing them to maintain access and control over their private property.
“Often for our clients, we are the last option after they have tried everything else to manage and maintain their own private property before towing, which is extremely aggressive, expensive and also doesn’t always work,” he said.
“If someone parked in your driveway of your house so you then could not park there when you own or pay for it, how would you feel?
“If you could not stop this from happening – you would have no choice but to exchange services like mine to reclaim your property.”
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier.
