Invercargill drivers may be feeling the pinch as the city council issued about 35% more parking tickets this year.
Figures released to the Southland Express under the Official Information Act this week showed the council issued 22,632 parking infringements from June 2023 to June 2024 — 5945 more tickets if compared with the same time the previous year.
Invercargill City Council environmental services manager Gillian Cavanagh said three parking officers were employed by the council.
Parking infringements issued this year had generated revenue of $547,024.67.
Compared with the same time in the previous year, 16,687 parking infringements were issued, with 9795 of these in relation to paid parking infringements totalling $520,059.08 in revenue, she said.
"We can see from the infringements that Invercargill’s CBD is the most ticketed area; 9781 of these were in relation to paid parking infringements."
Another figure released was about the 12,272 invalid parking tickets for which the council was offering a reimbursement after a decision in the Invercargill District Court earlier this year.
In February, Invercargill man Melvin Butler took the council to court after being fined $40 for allegedly failing to activate an inner-city parking meter, which the council said was necessary to measure 30 minutes of free parking.
At the time, Mr Butler disputed the claim and said his bid was successful when a justice of the peace said the council was not empowered to require the meters be activated to qualify for the free-parking period.
Ms Cavanagh said this week only about 12% had been refunded so far.
"As of 6 August 2024, council has refunded 1583 infringements across 642 vehicles totalling $68,130."
The figures did not surprise resident James Peterson. He believed many people were feeling the pinch of parking tickets.
"The other day I was with a group of mates and we got to the conclusion that we all had been ticketed in the CBD."
While resident Madison Scarlett was pleased with the 30 minutes’ free parking on offer, she believed many people did not know about the council’s parking app or had difficulties with the parking kiosks.
"The 30-minute free parking is good and easy if you just want to pop into a shop, but I think more people would pay for parking if the parking app was more advertised so people can use it on their phone."
