Pak’n Save says the changes were made after customers complained they couldn’t find a park and it was discovered people were parking there while visiting nearby businesses. (File pic)
Photo: Google Maps

Motorists might “test the boundaries” when it came to parking but it is “reasonable” for a supermarket to respond, a business sector head says.

After years of anything goes at the Whangārei Pak’n Save, the supermarket has begun enforcing its time limit of 90 minutes and a customer-only policy for its busy car park.

Those who don’t comply face fines.

While the move has antagonised some, supermarket shoppers have long complained they have nowhere to park while people not even buying groceries take up all the spaces.

North Chamber chief executive Leah McKarrow said Pak’n Save could do what it wanted at its car park and seemed to be making a change to make it easier for its customers.

She believed the signage about time limits had been up for some time, however, the biggest challenge was if people did not know there was now an enforcement policy.

“It should come as no surprise to parkers …It’s pretty reasonable I think from the supermarket’s perspective.”

McKarrow said she wouldn’t park in Pak’n Save’s park if she wasn’t shopping there. She had been caught out in the past and her vehicle had been towed away.

It was the city’s biggest carpark located within the CBD so it could be tempting “to push the boundaries” and park there and head off somewhere else.

“It reminds us that actually parking restrictions are there to be fair to the majority.”

Parking has been in the spotlight in Whangārei and the council recently hosted a packed meeting about changing its parking requirements.

“Everyone had an opinion.”

If those working in the city took up all the parking spaces it would unfair on shoppers and other visitors, McKarrow said.

She also pointed out Whangārei had a generous parking policy compared with the likes of Auckland.

The city was split into three zones, and people could park in zone three, about a seven-minute walk from the CBD, for $2 for the whole day.

In a statement to Checkpoint, Pak’n Save said the changes to its 300-space park were introduced in August, but no tickets were issued until September.

It said the changes were made after customers complained they couldn’t find a park and it was discovered people were parking there while visiting nearby businesses.