“Frustrated locals” have vandalised parking machines in Tauranga in an attempt to stall paid parking, a business owner believes.

Four Tauranga City Council parking terminals have been damaged in the past 10 days and will each cost about $2000 to fix.

Rutherford Signs director Matt Batchelor believed the two machines on Glasgow St and Third Ave were damaged with hammers.

“Frustrated locals have now resorted to vandalising the new, very expensive-looking paid parking terminals with hammers in an effort to delay progress [of paid parking].”

Paid parking in the city centre fringe begins on Monday.

It was meant to start on August 4 but was delayed a fortnight to allow time for residents’ permits to be implemented.

On-street parking between the eastern end of Fourth Ave and Park St, north of the CBD, will cost $1 an hour for the first two hours and $2 for every subsequent hour until 5pm, to a maximum of $10 on weekdays.

New two-hour parking limits also apply to some CBD-fringe streets, as far south as Eighth Ave.

Batchelor said his Glasgow St business did not have enough parking for his staff, and they were looking to him to cover the cost.

A map showing the new paid parking and time limited areas in Tauranga. Image / Tauranga City Council

If he were to cover their parking, it would cost $14,400 a year when things were “already tough”, he said.

Unlike the CBD, the area of Glasgow and First, Second and Third Ave West was primarily industrial, not retail.

“The only people being financially penalised here are the business owners and their staff.”

Council city centre infrastructure lead Shawn Geard said the estimated cost to repair each machine was $2000 because the machine head would need replacing.

A machine on Dive Cres and one on Devonport Rd had also been damaged, he said.

The cost of a new machine was $11,500 for a cash machine and $9200 for a contactless card-only machine.

The damaged machines would not delay the CBD fringe paid parking, he said.

The council appreciated that decisions around paid parking could often result in frustration, but people needed to know vandalising machines did not have an impact on parking enforcement.

“Rather, it adds an additional cost to council, and makes it more difficult for residents, workers, customers and visitors to conveniently pay for parking."

People can use the PayMyPark app if a parking machine is not working. Photo / George Novak

“For any person who chooses to express their frustration in this manner, we have CCTV cameras operating throughout the city centre.

“Any instances of wilful/intentional damage will be investigated and, where applicable, reported to the police.”

A report was filed with police about the vandalism of the Devonport Rd machine, and reports would be filed for the three other machines, he said.

He hoped the replacement parts would arrive so the machines would be working by Monday.

People could pay for parking through the PayMyPark app if the machines were not working.

Anyone who had an issue with the app should contact the council, Geard said.

The council could not guarantee parking meters would work at all times because of situations such as vandalism.

“If someone parks within a paid parking area, they will still need to ensure they make payment, which may mean needing to find the nearest undamaged meter.”

A variety of people, including workers, customers and visitors, used Glasgow St and First, Second and Third Aves, Geard said.

The extension of paid parking into those areas was to ensure regular turnover of the on-street parks to improve access for everyone.

The council aimed to achieve 85% occupancy across all its parking, Geard said.

This supported high use but allowed people to find parks when they wanted one.

City centre workers were encouraged to use parking buildings, off-street options, or consider public transport and active travel modes such as cycling and walking.

Police said anyone who saw property being damaged or vandalised should call 111 if it was happening now or 105 if it was after the fact.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.