A few years ago the amazing minds at the Rotorua Council decided to tender out parking services to a contactor – the contractor has a camera car which we’ve nicknamed the ‘iShark’. It spends the day roaming the streets and sending pictures to the parking wardens to capture the most despicable of overstayers – parking overstayers!
Once the iShark has seen you and the warden issued the fine, you will without your knowledge end up on iPark’s website which you might suspect is extremely secure based on the information on display – that’s what I thought when I went to dispute a ticket the other day, but alas it seems that for the last few years all of your information has been on display for all to see.
So how does it work:
You are issued a ticket, you simply go to the Rotorua Council website to dispute or pay – the only number you need to check your ticket status is the ticket number. For some unexplained reason the license plate is optional.
On top of this iPark have chosen a sequential numbering system (+1) so if you want to check other tickets just add 1 to your own and bingo.
Therefore, you can check the details of all tickets on their website, see all the pictures of the car, create disputes for tickets that aren’t yours, reopen closed cases and see all the correspondence.
For those playing at home, in the pictures are some ticket numbers which you can check yourself however anything in the 30***** range
What sort of information is on display?
License plate number
Pictures of your car
Information about the alleged offence.
Payment information
Any correspondence you’ve had with iPark
The ability to pay/dispute any ticket or reopen closed cases
See if it’s been sent to court.
While technically a contractor website, the ticketing authority is the Rotorua Lakes Council and all tickets are issued on their behalf by their contractor.
Is it just me that thinks this sort of information should not be available for all to see let alone interact with?