Winnipeg Parking Authority wrongfully issued parking notices to some 800

Some 800 people in Winnipeg, Canada were wrongfully sent parking notices by Winnipeg Parking Authority in the spring. As reported by cbc.ca:

A computer glitch resulted in hundreds of Winnipeggers receiving notices of unpaid parking violations — even though they had not been ticketed.

The notices were issued in the spring by the Winnipeg Parking Authority and sent to some 800 people. Colin Stewart, spokesman for the parking authority, said the problem was corrected and nobody was charged.

But nobody was notified, either.

There were really at least two computer-related issues here. This was not a result of software testing like in the Chicago case. Rather it sounds like incorrect information was applied to a numerous customer accounts. Then the staff at WPA had apparently no easy way to undo the change, nor figure out which records were affected. The latter could have allowed them to proactively inform people.

Electing to simply wait for incoming complaints really just puts the burden for WPA’s error on those, whose records were affected by this.