An Auckland man is furious after receiving a fake parking ticket that turned out to be an advert for Burger Fuel.
Chris Burt was driving home from work on Monday when he noticed a ticket flapping underneath one of his wiper blades.
He told Newshub he pulled his car over just before getting on the motorway, to retrieve the ticket before it blew away.
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"You know that stomach sinking feeling you get when you get a ticket? Yeah, I had that."
But he said upon closer inspection, he realised the 'ticket' was in fact a voucher for fries from restaurant chain Burger Fuel.
"It was absolutely ridiculous, it looks like a ticket. It even has a little 'BF' at the bottom that looks like the AT logo."
Mr Burt said his car had been parked at an Auckland Transport owned carpark in Takapuna all day, around the corner from a Burger Fuel restaurant.
He said the ad was "stupid" and discouraged him from visiting the chain.
A Reddit user posted a photo of one of the 'tickets' earlier this month, where other users also expressed their anger at the ad campaign.
"I saw it and thought 'I'm never going there again'," wrote the original poster.
Another said they would "return the favour by throwing their trash right back into the restaurant parking lot."
An Auckland Transport spokesperson told Newshub the ticketing advertising was not illegal, despite its likeness to a real parking fine.
They said complaints needed to be directed to the restaurant that issued the tickets.
Burger Fuel told Newshub this kind of feedback is a rarity.
"The idea behind the tickets is to surprise and delight the recipients.. for the most part, this seems to be the result. We have given out tens of thousands of them over the years and the feedback has generally been very positive.
"Like most marketing activity, we have also had the odd complaint during that time too."
The company says they constantly monitor feedback on marketing campaigns and the public are encouraged to have their say.
"We value an open and transparent dialogue with the people of New Zealand and welcome any direct feedback and/or discussion around the parking tickets – our inbox is always open."
Newshub.
