A driver is fuming after paying 10 times more than he should have for his parking, after using the RingGo app.
Richard Endacott, who was parking on Windsor Leisure Centre to use the swimming pool, said the app should be installed with a "fail-safe" after he forgot to turn off the timer.
The app, which allows you to pay for parking on your phone rather than a machine, is widely used across the country, including most of the car parks within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
Richard, from Windsor, used the app while using the swimming pool with his two kids for over an hour on Monday, July 18.
The app employs a start-stop system where users must begin the timer upon parking and then manually end it when leaving.
At this point, RingGo will charge the amount of time the vehicle was parked for, Berkshire Live reports.
Mr Endacott should have paid £2.20 but said he “forgot” to turn off the timer and ended up paying £14 for four and half hours.
He said he may not use the leisure centre car park anymore out of fear he will do it again. He added: “It was a genuine error but then I feel as though it’s a significant punishment for that genuine error.”
Mr Endacott raised this issue on social media and received responses from other residents saying they forked over more money for parking as they forgot to turn off the timer.
He is now calling for reminder signages at car parks or app notifications to remind people to turn off the timer.
He said: “There’s no fail-safe way of stopping that. People have suggested putting a sticky note in your car or setting an alarm on your phone, but I’m not entirely sure why I need to do that.
“The system should have a method of reminding people like me who do have a habit of forgetting to do certain things.
“When I put it on Facebook, a lot of people said, ‘that’s happened to me’. So, all of sudden, your £2.20 car parking charge becomes £14.
“If you got 10 people doing that a day, then it’s quite a hefty, little money spinner for RingGo just for relying on peoples’ incompetence.”
A council spokesperson said: “The standard RingGo parking zones in the Royal Borough operate on a start-stop basis.
“When someone commences a parking session on the RingGo App, it is made very clear that they need to stop their session when they leave so they can be charged the appropriate amount.
“On the odd occasion that a user unfortunately forgets to end their session, they can log into their RingGo account and request a refund via the RingGo website.”
“RingGo was contacted for comment, but a statement was not received.
However, in an email to Mr Endacott, a spokesperson said they were “happy” to try and request a refund on his behalf to the council.
