Faulty parking machines - Worcester News reporter hit with £75 bill

He explains what happened - and the long-winded battle to get his money back.

WITH money tight for many at the moment and my second child due tomorrow, I could have done without the extra hassle.

But judging by the deluge of complaints so far received by the Worcester News, I am not alone. The emails and phone calls keep coming in as we start to get a feel for the scale of this scandal - and people are demanding answers.

This has hit a few people much harder than me with charges running into hundreds of pounds, so perhaps I should count myself lucky.

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Yesterday I learned I had been charged more than £75 for parking at a pay and display car park managed by Worcester City Council.

Unless I had somehow managed to inadvertently buy 28 parking tickets in just two days, something was seriously wrong. 

After all, I only bought two tickets - one for £3.60 and the other for £5.

Next time I go to the city centre perhaps I should just park where I like and get a fine. It should work out cheaper.

My hope is that Worcester City Council sorts out this shambolic mess with the same speed and energy they would deploy if I failed to pay my council tax.

In truth, I only checked my online banking at all because of stories a colleague had written about a man charged £200 in error for parking in the city, fearing he had been scammed. 

Because I had used contactless payments at city car parks, including when visiting the Cathedral to report on reactions to the Queen's death earlier this month, I also knew I was potentially at risk.

My heart sank when I saw multiple transactions for parking on the app - even though I had only bought two tickets on September 9 and 10, both in Copenhagen Street. Despite that, some of the charges related to the Cattle Market.

I counted 28 transactions, totalling £75.70. The money was rinsed from my account on Wednesday and Thursday. It couldn't have come at a worse time - having just returned from a family wedding in the Scottish Borders when I had forked out for petrol and a hotel.

But how easy is it to claim the money back? I initially called Barclays and was told there was a 40-minute wait to speak to an adviser.

ERROR: People cannot pay with card at Worcester City Council car parks because of the error. (Image: Newsquest)

So I decided to ring back when it was quieter, calling at around 9pm yesterday.

I was on hold for about half an hour before a very helpful call handler answered. However, it took close to another hour after that while he examined the transactions and logged the disputed payments, going through each one independently.

He told me he did not believe it was a scam or fraud but a technical glitch involving duplicate payments.

The call handler said he would send a disclaimer form in the post within two to three working days and gave me a reference number so I could keep tabs on the process. My main worry now - as I'm sure it is for the rest of you - is that even more money is taken from my account.

I've also logged the issue with the city council by emailing parkingoffice@worcester.gov.uk

Yesterday, Worcester City Council released a statement saying the investigation continues into the technical error.

Card payments are currently disabled, leaving the options of using the RingGo app or cash payments.

A spokesperson said: "We have now established that many customers have suffered from duplicate transactions, resulting in multiple payments wrongly being taken from their bank accounts.

We would like to apologise to anyone affected and to assure customers that we are doing our utmost to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible."