New York City officials have dismissed or refunded half a million parking tickets because of an error.

According to a spokeswoman for the New York City Department of Finance, drivers who were ticketed for failing to display their meter receipt or an expired receipt had been issued the wrong ticket. The department says error came after the violation code was changed from “4-08h10” to “4-08h1”, but forgot to note the change in the ticket.

Officials have dismissed or refunded drivers who were ticketed with the wrong code.

The Department of Finance gave out 400,860 refunds for tickets totaling about $18 million, and another 106,808 dismissals for tickets that had not yet been paid, totaling $8 million, a spokeswoman said.

Each penalty was either $35 or $65 depending on where it was received.

Deputy Department of Finance Commissioner for Treasury and Payment Service Jeffrey Shear tells WINS-AM the department discovered the error in June. Shear says it’s important for the department to be fair.

Drivers received letters that read in part: “We are writing to inform you that a change in the New York City Traffic Rules, the summons(es) issued to your vehicle(s) for either failing to display a parking meter receipt or displaying a parking meter receipt while parked in a parking meter zone contained an error and will be administratively dismissed.”