Motorist fined £300 for Ipswich Station parking app issue

Emily Martin, from Ipswich, received the tickets after using the NCP car park at Ipswich train station.

Each time she paid by the PaybyPhone app and received three £100 fines relating to visits in January and February.

Ms Martin said she used the car park while she went into London to work for the day, and was charged a different price each time she used it, and there was no way to change the figure shown.

Parking costs £9.40 for on peak rate, which is to park between 4am and 10am, and £8.40 for the off peak rate, which is parking after 10am.

However, when Ms Martin went to pay, the app quoted her a variety of prices, ranging from £6.10 to £8.10 for day parking, meaning she has fines for "partial payment."

However, NCP has said that the fines are due to Ms Martin paying later in the day rather than when she parked, hence the lowered charge.

Ipswich Train Station car park (Image: Archant)

Ms Martin said: "It's crazy and unreasonable.

"They are trying to charge me £300 for their own app not showing the correct number for payment.

Emily Martin has received three £100 fines (Image: Submitted)

"I received all of the fines at the same time, which is ridiculous too. Had I received the first fine, after January 16 when it happened, I would have given up on the app and used the machines.

"For some reason they saved them up and sent me a £300 bill all at once, months after."

Ms Martin has appealed the fines, but due to the length of time it took for the bills to be delivered to her, the appeal process will overrun the 14 days to get the discounted fine price of £180.

She continued: "If this is not the correct amount then NCP should ensure their parking app is charging the correct amount to customers, rather than seeking to claw back extortionate amounts at a much later date."

One of the letters received (Image: Submitted)

An NCP spokesman said: "The customer has been issued PCN's (Parking Charge Notices) as they have not paid at the time of entry but have paid later in the day and this has led to them paying a reduced rate.

"If the customers wants to pay after their entry time in the future they can visit gaparking.co.uk where they have other payment options such as Autopay or Post pay."

Ipswich Train Station Car Park (Image: Google Maps)

Ms Martin added: "There has been occasions where I get on the train to London, get to work, go into meetings and then think you've forgotten to pay parking, so I go to do it then and select to pay for the whole day.

"But really, if you're selecting the whole day, then it shouldn't have a bearing on the price quoted, because there's only one rate for between 4am and 10am and after 10am until the following 4am.

"If you're selecting that time period, then that should be it.

"They should also be able to clear it up with the use of ANPR which the car park has, so it knows when I entered the car park, so the app should have some way of knowing that due to your licence plate, what time you entered the car park."

After posting on Facebook, Ms Martin received responses from other people who had also said they had experienced a similar issue with the app.