Hamilton motorists endured an explosion in parking and towing fines over the past three years, but there's some relief with two-hour free city parking returning this week.
By Jordan Smith of Local Democracy Reporting
The use of Licence Plate Recognition technology, which allows wardens to scan more cars, contributed to a surge in tickets in the past few years, according to Hamilton City Council.
Data acquired from the council by Local Democracy Reporting showed 18,000 parking infringements were written in 2023, equating to a total cost of $730,970 in fines.
Those statistics boomed to 23,532 and $1.5 million cost in 2025, a 30% and 105% increase.
Towing infringements followed a similar trend, with 307 vehicles towed in 2023, costing Hamiltonians $16,824.
Those stats grew to 437 and $39,778 in 2025, a 42% and 136% increase.
The figures come in the face of a council-contracted tow truck escaping a fine after being caught parking in a disabled car park.
The surge boils down to “operational, technological, and regulatory changes”, according to council’s urban transport manager Martin Parkes.
He cited the introduction of Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) technology in late 2022 as one example.
“LPR allows parking officers to scan and verify a much larger number of vehicles in a shorter period, improving compliance monitoring across the network.
“This doesn’t indicate worsening behaviour; it’s increased the detection of illegally parked cars that may have previously gone unnoticed.”
He said a second towing contractor was hired in 2023 to respond to “increased operational demand” and a raft of central government fees increases in October 2024 also had an impact on the numbers.
These changes contributed to a higher overall value of infringements from that point onward, alongside increased volumes, Parkes said.
'Ruthless' parking wardens, unclear meters
It goes against what Barber on Barton owner Gini Berggren believes, saying the increase is due to confusing and unclear parking meters.
She said “ruthless” parking wardens issue fines for out-of-date Warrants of Fitness as well as registrations, not giving the same leeway the police does.
“I see all the time people get out of their car and know they’ve got an hour and they just walk off. I can’t go out there and tell every person ‘register your car’... they’ll come back with a ticket.
“I’m going to print off a sign to put on the door saying ‘remember to register your car’... I see a lot of people get tickets all the time.”
Free parking to bring town 'back to life'
The release of the parking statistics comes with the welcome return of two hour free parking in the CBD, with deputy mayor Geoff Taylor calling it “back to the future” after leading the original introduction in 2017.
When the programme was originally scrapped, he described the plethora of changes as “the perfect storm”, adding it was “pretty brutal” on people.
Now, with “better technology to enforce it”, Taylor says it’s critical for the council to educate people to use the kiosks correctly, admitting the message takes a while to implement.
“We’ll be lenient at the start just to try to encourage people... the whole thing is about welcoming people back into the central city. That’s a big philosophy for me.”
“The main message we’re trying to get across is ‘hey, parking is free but you’ve got to register first, see your number plate in the kiosk and make sure you finish the process’.”
Berggren previously championed a petition with “about 500 names” to bring the two hours back, labelling the shift as “fabulous”.
“I’m really grateful to Tim [Macindoe], Geoff Taylor and the council for listening because the town was dying and hopefully it comes back to life again.”
A parking study is currently being undertaken by the council, Taylor said, with the goal to improve communications and relations with drivers so they “don’t feel burned” when getting a ticket.
“I think we can do better as an organisation. We get a lot of complaints and people feel upset... those are people who will never come back to the central city some of them.”
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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