Cheap parking, hefty f ine
Tight bank accounts and weekly budgets are a way of life for students but heavy parking fines are causing more strain for those who park up at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Hawke’s Bay.
But the two bodies involved both say the other is responsible for setting the steep infringement amount of $60.
The cost of parking in one of the 640 car parks is cheap but the fine for parking overtime can cost a week’s worth of groceries for some.
Parking costs $1 for four hours and $0.25 per hour after that, with a minimum charge of $1, but if students or staff forget to pay or top up, it’s a hefty $60 fine.
EIT corporate services executive director Victor Saywell said the car parks were managed by Parking Enforcement Services, a division of Wilson Parking.
‘‘They retain the whole fee. EIT does not receive any payment from the enforcement fees collected,’’ he said.
But Wilson’s said EIT determined the rates for parking fees and breach fines as the owner and operator of the car parks.
‘‘The current fee structure is carried over from before Parking Enforcement Services started enforcement with EIT,’’ the spokesperson said.
‘‘Parking Enforcement Services were contracted to enforce the parking restrictions set out by EIT in February this year.’’
EIT then said they understood ‘‘the rate was negotiated with Car Park Enforcement Services, and there was a minimum amount they could deliver the service for’’.
Mereohia Wilson-Munday is a fulltime student at the Taradalebased EIT and was astonished with the heavy fines students and staff had to pay.
‘‘I just can’t see how you can justify $60 as a parking fine, when it’s at least $15 if you get a parking fine in town. If you don’t pay within a certain amount of time, it goes up to $80,’’ she said.
Another EIT student, Tikeala Myers, was also hit by the fines.
‘‘Students are paying these fines from their loans and student allowances. I think $60 is steep, I think it should be $20 maximum, $60 is what I spend on my shopping each week. If you get a fine, that’s the groceries skipped.’’
Saywell said vehicles infringing EIT parking requirements would, in the first instance, be issued with a ‘‘warning notice’’ with the vehicle details recorded.