Source: Radio New Zealand
South Auckland resident Kushma Nair RNZ / Blessen Tom
An Auckland man was left stunned after a parking machine at Auckland Airport tried to charge him more than $4000 for just 15 minutes in the airport’s short-term car park on Monday.
South Auckland resident Kushma Nair said he tried to pay for a short-term car park at the international terminal when a machine repeatedly showed a charge of $4059.
“I was, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and tried to do it twice, but it showed me $4059 for the 15 minutes or so I parked,” Nair said.
Nair contacted customer service through the help button at the payment machine and was later told to pay $12.50 after staff discovered a parking system malfunction linked to a previous visit.
Nair said the incident made him wonder whether other motorists had faced similar problems.
“It was a bizarre experience,” he said.
“I had problems with the airport parking … two months ago, [when] the machine didn’t show me any details even after putting my rego.”
Nair, who is a member of the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board, said he appreciated the assistance from airport staff and was able to leave the car park without further issues.
“It just got me wondering how many others [have] had to deal with it if the machine is not showing the correct fee when [they] are paying,” he said.
A parking machine at Auckland Airport repeatedly showed a charge of $4059 when Kushma Nair tried to pay for a short-term stay. Supplied
An Auckland Airport spokesperson acknowledged that receiving an incorrect parking charge would be frustrating, apologising to Nair for the incident.
“We are pleased the customer was able to contact our customer service team at the parking machine, allowing them to promptly resolve the issue before the transaction took place,” the spokesperson said.
Auckland Airport believed the issue had occurred because Nair’s vehicle had not been properly checked out of the car park after a short visit in March.
“When the customer returned for a second visit this week, the system treated the customer’s two visits as one single stay, incorrectly calculating the days between them,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the airport had “robust processes” in place to ensure customers were charged correctly.
The airport was reviewing why the earlier exit had not been properly recorded, the spokesperson said.
“I’m glad the problem was resolved quickly and that I didn’t have to fork out $4000,” Nair said.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/20/auckland-airport-parking-machine-tries-to-charge-man-4000/