Wilson admits ‘oops . . . we did it again’

Wilson Parking has admitted more people have been stung with fines for parking in spaces the company has no jurisdiction over.

This week, the company admitted it ticketed motorist Shane Leach for twice parking in a free car park owned by the Wellington City Council.

Yesterday, a Wilson spokeswoman confessed Leach wasn’t the only parker stung by an incorrect fee.

‘‘Upon retrieving our archives, in total we have located an extra three incorrectly breached notices.’’

Six notices had been appealed, including two for Leach, she said.

John Struthers was one of the people wrongly ticketed by the parking giant. His wife’s car had been ticketed for being inside the small parking area beside a Wilson-owned lot in Karo Drive.

He explained to the company twice that it had made a mistake and requested the breach be cancelled, he said.

‘‘Each time they responded stating ‘the ticket still stands’ even though – in the photo they had of my wife’s car – it was clearly not in their car park.’’

It was only after writing to Wilson Parking for the third time and threatening to attend Small Claims Court that the company admitted its mistake, cancelled the notice and said staff had been told not let it happen again, he said.

A Wilson spokeswoman said it wasn’t shying away from its mistake and had appealed on its Facebook page for people to come forward if they felt they had been wrongly ticketed.

If consumers were unhappy with Wilson Parking’s response to complaints, they could use the Disputes Tribunal or complain to the Commerce Commission.