Widespread problems with parking meters are affecting motorists across the country.

Text-a-park and credit card payment options aren't working on meters across most of the North Island, and even the upper South Island.

A Wellington District Council spokesman says parking wardens are aware of the outage, and will be lenient when it comes to giving out tickets.

He says people are encouraged to bring coins with them when parking, but if they're unable to pay and are ticketed, the situation will be taken into account if they dispute it.

The company that operates the meters, Integrated Technology Solutions, is investigating the problem urgently, though it's not known when the system will be back to normal.