ANZ cards damage parking machines
New braille dots on ANZ debit cards have damaged 160 parking machines in Wellington’s CBD, leaving them out of action and forcing the council to completely replace its 512 machines.
All the newly released debit cards feature dots to help visually impaired people enter the cards into eftpos terminals and other vending machines correctly, but some have got stuck in the capital’s pay-anddisplay parking machines.
Wellington City Council is now asking motorists not to use debit cards to pay for on-street parking in the CBD for the next few weeks while the problem is fixed.
Stephen McArthur, the council’s community networks manager, said a number of the cards had been found jammed inside the machines.
The card readers on the machines were damaged by the braille dots. Even if the machine was not jammed, it would no longer read any credit or debit card, he said.
Forcing the card out again could cause internal damage to a micro switch at the back of the unit, and might also remove material from the card dot features.
As a result, the damaged card reader did not detect the next card inserted.
The only solution was to replace the card reader.
Council spokesman Richard MacLean said the machines and card readers were replaced and upgraded every few years because of changing technology, so the council would now bring this forward for 512 machines, which were about six years old.
The new readers would cost about $666,000 and would incorporate paywave technology.
The work would take several weeks to complete, he said. Until then, temporary stickers on the machines would advise motorists to avoid using credit or debit cards, and to use an alternative payment method.
The breakdown would not lead to free parking. Normal enforcement of parking would continue in the CBD given that motorists had several convenient payment methods available to them, MacLean said.
If motorists have received a ticket since the beginning of last month, after being unable to use a machine, then they are urged to follow the appeals process that is outlined on the parking ticket.
The council will treat the appeals on a case-by-case basis, using its knowledge of which machines are operating and which have malfunctioned.
The council was in contact with ANZ, and would not ask the bank to help recover costs because the parking machine technology was out of date, MacLean said.
‘‘It’s a cost we have to bear to keep pace with technology.’’
An ANZ spokesman said the bank was aware of only one other machine in which a card got stuck, and that was several weeks ago.
How do I pay for parking now?
❚ Parking machines are still accepting payment by cash, Snapper card, smartphone app and texta-park.
❚ Motorists can also pay by calling Wellington City Council on (04) 499 4444 and passing on their credit or debit card number and details in the ‘‘strictest confidence’’ while the issue is being resolved.