Imagine entering a car park for about five minutes and emerging almost 20 years later, at least according to the parking system.
A driver in Singapore was presented with a whopping S$100,870 parking fee after a system error recorded his stay at a River Valley car park as 7,204 days, 22 hours and 51 minutes.
Thankfully, the driver did not actually lose S$100,870.
The incident happened on Friday, 25 September, and the car park management has since apologised and said the faulty component responsible has been replaced, according to Mothership’s report on 28 September.
Driver Was There for Only About 5 Minutes
The bizarre charge first surfaced after the driver shared an image showing the parking system’s calculation.
In reality, he said he had spent only about five minutes in the car park and was still within its grace period.
Instead, the system displayed a parking duration of more than 7,204 days.
For some perspective, 7,204 days works out to roughly 19 years and nine months. Unless the driver somehow entered the car park when flip phones were still fashionable, something had clearly gone wrong.
According to the driver’s account reported by AsiaOne, he contacted the parking operator’s hotline and was told that the system had failed to register his vehicle entering the car park even though the barrier had opened.
The system subsequently produced the extraordinary S$100,870 figure when he tried to leave.
No S$100,870 Deducted From Driver
Crucially, the huge amount displayed was not actually deducted from the driver’s CashCard.
Mothership subsequently reported on 28 September that the car park management confirmed the driver suffered no financial loss.
Management apologised for the incident and said the faulty component had been replaced.
So no, someone did not really pay the price of a COE just to park for five minutes.
The S$100,870 figure was the result of the parking system incorrectly recording a stay stretching back nearly two decades, rather than an actual parking charge paid by the motorist.
