A Welsh couple visiting Liverpool were "shocked" and "angry" when they were fined £100 for paying what they thought was full price for a carpark stay in the city.
Gillian and Mark Edwards, 57 and 61 respectively, drove from near Denbigh in North Wales to Liverpool to take their son, a student here, to hospital after he sustained a head injury on New Year's Eve.
Immediately after dropping his wife and son at Royal Liverpool Hospital on January 2, Mark saw a sign for the private carpark on Shepherd Street and chose to park there.
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Two hours and 44 minutes later, the family left after inputting their car registration number and paying at one of the two machines in the carpark after 4pm.
But four days later they received a parking charge notice of £100, offering them a £40 discount if they paid within two weeks.
Parkingeye, the company that manages the carpark, claims the Edwards paid the £3.50 tariff for a stay of up to two hours rather than the £4.50 tariff for a stay of up to four hours.
Explain what happened at the carpark, Mark said: "I went up to the machine on the way out and paid it, and of course it's dark, so I didn't really see.
"But why I was annoyed and why I'm angry is I use these smart technology car parks all the time, and basically, you just go to the machine, you put your card on, and you just assume that they charge you the right price, and you move on."
He added: "I could only have paid the amount the machine was charging me. I couldn't physically have paid anything else.
"They didn't accept cash, so I had to pay whatever amount it was that they'd worked out with registration technology."
The Edwards said that they are appealing the parking charge notice from Parkingeye, insisting they paid the price they were quoted at the end of their stay.
Mark told the ECHO: "The only reason I can think of that I would genuinely consider paying that fine is if I genuinely thought I'd done something wrong.
"If I'd have walked away from that car park - because there are no barriers on it, it's up to you whether you stop at that machine and pay or not - if I had genuinely tried to leave that car park without paying at all anything, then I deserve a fine.
"But the fact is we paid and we paid the amount that the machine told us we owed."
A Parkingeye spokesperson said: "The car park at Shepherd Street in Liverpool is monitored by ANPR camera systems and has 16 prominent and highly-visible signs that give motorists clear guidance on how to use the car park responsibly.
"The motorist parked in the car park for two hours and 44 minutes and only paid for up to two hours, they therefore correctly received a Parking Charge Notice.
"Parkingeye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which motorists can use to appeal their Parking Charge Notice.
"If anyone has mitigating circumstances, we would encourage them to highlight this by appealing to Parkingeye."
The two payment machines in Shepherd Street car park have an arrow function that motorists can use to select the correct tariff.
On January 2, 2022, there were 49 transactions of a variety of tariffs made across both machines in the Shepherd Street car park.
One other parking charge notice was issued that day. It was paid without appeal.
This isn't the first time motorists have complained about being fined £100 for paying what they thought was full price in Parkingeye's Shepherd Street carpark.
Louise Fisher from Southport successfully appealed the parking charge notice she received after a 2 hour 35 minute stay there in March 2021.
She said the signs in the car park said the tariff was £4.50, but the only price the ticket machine would cite was £3.50, which she paid after cancelling the first transaction and entering her registration number a second time.
Her internal appeal to Parkingeye was initially rejected, with the company telling her: "We have reviewed the details outlined in your appeal and can see that a payment to park was made on the date of the event.
"Unfortunately, the tariff purchased was insufficient and did not cover the entire duration of the stay."
Parkingeye declined to comment on why Louise Fisher was charged the wrong tariff in March 2021.
When the ECHO reported on her case in July, a Parkingeye spokesperson said: "Following a successful appeal through POPLA, the independent body and Ombudsman which reviews all cases, we have now cancelled the parking charge notice.
"Parkingeye operates a BPA (British Parking Association) audited appeals process, which we would encourage any motorist to use if they think there are genuinely mitigating circumstances in their cases."
