Voucher parking has proved virtually problem-free.

Corporation of Hamilton secretary Mr. Roger Sherratt this week declared the new system was working "extremely well''.

"Dozens'' of callers had phoned in to say the system had facilitated shopping in Hamilton, he claimed. Double parking was also down.

After motorists snapped up the vouchers causing supplies to virtually disappear overnight, the Corporation rushed to reorder.

Now, additional stocks have been flown in by air and are available at more than 70 retail outlets Island wide.

"From the Corporation's point of view the new system has been working extremely well and we've had no major problems so far,'' Mr. Sherratt said.

"The Corporation is very optimistic that the new multi-storey car park, together with the voucher parking system, will provide much-needed relief for our parking problems in Hamilton to the benefit of everyone.'' Furthermore, the Corporation was "pleasantly surprised'' at the speed with which the public picked up the concept of scratching out the time and date on the cards and plastering them to their windscreens.

From the first day the voucher system went into effect, three out of four motorists used the vouchers. By the end of the week, hardly a parked car was without.

So far, traffic wardens have simply been issuing warnings for blunders where time of return instead of time of departure has been scratched out. But cars failing to display properly marked vouchers now risk $50 penalties.

Warning tickets will only be reserved for genuine mistakes, Mr. Sherratt said.

For the avoidance of doubt, he reminded the public of the following: Time recorded on the vehicle is the time the driver leaves the vehicle. For a car parked at 9.15 a.m., 9 must be scratched out in the hour column and 15 in the minute column; Vouchers entitle the user to just one hour in any one place on the street; Goods vehicles do not need to use vouchers to park in loading zones, but must display them if using regular parking bays; Private cars cannot park on lower Reid Street between Burnaby Hill and Queen Street which is reserved as a loading zone area between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.

Monday to Friday; Vouchers are not required on Court Street north of Victoria Street; Vouchers should be displayed on the dashboard or window closest to the pavement; The 15-minute free parking zone outside the Post Office on Church Street is only for people visiting the post office; The one-hour maximum parking rule still applies in areas not affected by the voucher system such as the eastern end of Front Street, Reid Street, Church Street, Victoria Street and King Street.

Mr. Sherratt said that in spite of complaints from residents, cars continued to park all day in the north of Hamilton.

And some businesses have griped that customers are unable to find parking spaces.

Recently the Corporation has extended one-hour maximum parking to business areas in the north of Hamilton and plans are afoot to create residential street parking with the opening of Bull's Head car park in November.