The ticket came as persistent rain disabled about 50 pay and display parking machines in the central city on Tuesday, with reports of the same issue popping up again yesterday.
Brian Dixon said it was a ‘‘bit of a surprise'' when he arrived back at his car to find a $40 parking ticket sitting on his window after earlier seeing a message on the meter saying no payment was required.
He had found out since then the council would cancel his ticket, but it was a bit of an inconvenience figuring out the best way to get the ticket wiped.
He imagined the situation would have been worse had it happened to someone visiting the city from out of town.
Dunedin City Council Citipark team leader Reece Smith said he had not heard of others receiving tickets on Tuesday, despite their machines telling them they did not need to pay, but it was possible.
However, for those who got a ticket when the machine was ‘‘genuinely out of order'' it was as simple as giving the council a call to get the ticket waived, Mr Smith said.
It was difficult for parking wardens, as a machine could be fixed in the time a person was parked on a spot.
‘‘They may have looked at the machine and it was working.''The council was planning to replace some unreliable older parking machines.
