Braille bank cards damage Wellington parking meters

2:29 pm on 8 June 2018

A bank card intended to help the blind has damaged about 160 Wellington parking meters.

A file photo of someone paying for parking in Wellington's CBD

Photo: RNZ / Edward O'Driscoll

ANZ bank provides cards with braille - a tactile alphabet of raised dots to enable visually impaired people to read - but the dots have wreaked havoc on Wellington parking meters.

The damage means people trying to use a card to pay for parking may find it they do not work.

Wellington City Council's community networks manager Stephen McArthur said the cards had either jammed inside machines or damaged the card readers.

People who had been given a parking ticket since the beginning of May because they could not pay could appeal the fines, Mr McArthur said.

Fixing or replacing the 512 card readers will take several weeks - and motorists can pay with cash, their Snapper card, Text-a-Park, or smartphone apps. Stickers will be placed on the machines to remind people of this.

Normal enforcement of parking will continue in the CBD.