Taxi-driver charged $300 for 30 minutes parking in HDB carpark

A Chinese newspaper reported the case of a taxi-driver who was charged $299.93 for parking his car for 30-minutes in a Housing & Development Board (HDB) carpark.
The 63-year-old taxi-driver, Mr Weng, parked his car in Redhill for about half-an-hour to have his lunch. He was shocked to be charged close to $300 when he tried leave the carpark. He should have been charged no more than $1.
Mr Weng has some parking related fines which he had not settled, but the they do not add up to $300. The parking charge was also not a technical glitch.
Mr Weng visits the coffeeshop a few times a week without fail and parks in the same carpark when he does. According to HDB, Mr Weng had tailgated a vehicle last month when he was exiting the carpark gantry and so was not charged for parking.
The Electronic Parking System did not register the exit last month and charged him for parking there since that time.
 
The 63-year-old had only $50 in his cashcard and so could not exit. He was eventually helped by a fellow motorist.
Mr Weng will not encounter such problems in the future assured HDB. They have cleared the taxi-driver’s old record. HDB also said that overcharging cases are rare and advised drivers not to tailgate the vehicle in front of them when exiting the parking lot.
A Facebook user, Syed Ahmad Al-Qudree, however suggested that it may not be as unusual. He was overcharged twice at such carparks. He said that he did not tailgate as well, but remembers going through 2 exit barriers which were not working.