'I was sent £100 charge after making easy parking mistake'

A livid driver has claimed he was hit with a parking fine after mistakenly inputting the wrong car registration number, despite having paid for his parking twice. Niel Kirk, 52, visited Pizza Hut with his family and paid for two hours of parking at the Euro Car Parks in Kidderminster.

However, upon leaving, he discovered that his payment of £2.40 had been taken twice and he had also entered his car registration incorrectly. Despite explaining this 'simple' error to the company, the father-of-three was slapped with a £100 charge, an incident he believes 'could happen to anyone'.

Niel, from Blakedown, Worcestershire, has now sworn off using the car park again after being stung with the 'unfair' parking fine.

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He said: "We got a text receipt to confirm we had paid for the parking and our bank statement shows the payment came out twice. When we realised it was the wrong registration, we replied to the text to explain, but about a month later, we got a £100 fine through the post. We realised it must have been a number you can't reply to, but thought it would be an easy fine to resolve as it was just a simple mistake."

Niel explained that he went through the appeals process and clarified that they had entered the registration incorrectly. He also provided evidence to prove they had paid for two hours of parking and did not overstay, but the appeal was rejected.

Niel, a senior project manager, even reached out to the managing director of Euro Car Parks, only to be told he still had to cough up.

Mr Kirk said: "After submitting the evidence, Euro Car Parks offered to reduce the fine to £20. In hindsight, I probably should have paid the reduced amount, but we paid for the parking.

"They almost acknowledged this by reducing the fine, so it feels so unfair to still have to pay. I was told that we'd broken the contract when parking by typing in the wrong registration.

"This is why they still fined me. It is unscrupulous and so draconian.

"Euro Car Parks have not been very responsive and are uncompromising even when we made a genuine mistake. It could happen to anyone.

"The letters are also quite scary for people when they threaten to increase the fines or involve debt recovery if unpaid. It can really affect people.

"I will never park there again. I'm lucky that I am able to walk and have good mobility, so I can park elsewhere, but I feel for those who are not as mobile and have no choice but to use the car park.

"I've noticed the car park is barely used as much as it used to be since they changed the payment machines. It will start having a negative impact on businesses and I really think the owners need to review the changes that have been made.

"People just need to be really careful. Make sure you type in the registration correctly and don't exceed the time limit. I'd really discourage people from parking on the car park if they can."

Weavers Wharf is owned by LCP Estates Ltd, part of M Core, but Euro Car Parks manages the car park.

A spokesperson for M Weavers Wharf said: "We are sorry to hear about this individual's experience; however, the car park at Weavers Wharf is managed independently by Euro Car Parks. We understand the matter has been raised directly with Euro Car Parks, who are best placed to respond."

Euro Car Parks has been contacted for comment.