Rotorua parking app issue leads to delayed charges for drivers

Rotorua Lakes Council contracts i-Park and drivers can use the PrestoPark app to pay. Photo / Laura Smith

Rotorua’s parking service is investigating a transaction delay that led to drivers being charged about a month’s worth of fees at one time.

Rotorua Lakes Council says the charges relate to genuine parking activity and has apologised for “any short-term inconvenience” caused.

It contracts i-Park for its parking services and users can pay by machine or by the PrestoPark app.

In the first few days of May an unknown number of app users were charged about a month’s worth of parking activity at one time.

One driver who was charged $264 worth of 16 transactions started a discussion on social media about the issue.

Both they and another commenter said they were unable to compare the charge, which was dated to one day, to dates they parked in the app, and believed the app said payments had gone through at the time they parked.

One person said they had not parked long enough to be charged $4 to $6.

Another said there was “no foul here” having confirmed they were charged late for what they had parked.

One person Local Democracy Reporting contacted was charged three weeks of parking worth $231.

The council posted to its Facebook page on Saturday that users may notice “multiple delayed parking payments” on their cards.

“While some of these payments may be up to one month old, we would like to reassure customers that the charges relate to genuine previous parking activity.”

It said i-Park was investigating and apologised for any concern it caused. The app was now processing transactions successfully, it said.

In response to Local Democracy Reporting questions the council’s destination development group manager Jean-Paul Gaston reiterated its Facebook post and said the investigation was in the early stages.

“It would be premature to speculate any further at this time.

“Due to the technical nature of the issue, this may take some time to resolve. i-Park is continuing to keep [the] council informed of their investigation and any developments.”

An update would be provided once the investigation was complete and the app would be monitored in the interim to ensure transactions were successful.

“We encourage anyone who has had an issue with the PrestoPark app to contact i-Park on 07 958 9805 or email support@i-park.co.nz.

“We apologise for any short-term inconvenience that this may have caused.”

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist since 2019.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.