Wrightsville Beach parking pay stations overcharging patrons due to system error

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY) —If you paid to park at Wrightsville Beach during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, you may want to check your bank or credit card statement.

The town’s parking office receiving numerous calls from people who say they were charged too much. Some are reporting hundreds of dollars in additional charges. Wrightsville Beach’s town manager says the company that oversees parking is looking into what might have caused the problem, and is working with pay station vendors to reverse the extra charges.

“It would appear to be, it was some kind of software issue, with the actual pay stations. So, soon as that was recognized, there were some extra charges coming in. Basically, we shut those pay stations down and didn’t allow for any other charges to be made on those pay stations. These are primarily in the lots in town, the stand alone meters were still, you know, functioning properly, and then the other option was to use Text2Park, instead of being able to use these pay stations,” said Timothy Owens, Wrightsville Beach town manager.

The pay stations near parking lots are currently turned off. The town hopes to get them running by the weekend. Until this issue is resolved, you should pay to park using Text2Park.