A tourist has vowed never to visit Manchester again after claiming he was robbed after parking in an NCP car park in the city centre.
Frederick Brownson had travelled from the North East to stay in the city with his wife, and another couple, and paid to park in NCP Sackville Street car park.
He paid £27.65 for what he thought was 24 hours parking. The group then visited the Coronation Street set and went for a meal and drinks before staying overnight.
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Other than feeling ripped off by the price of parking, Frederick thought nothing more of it. But over two months later, he received a letter saying he'd been fined for not paying the right charge.
According to NCP, he had paid £27.65 to park for seven hours, instead of £27.95 for 24 hours. Because his car is leased from Hyundai, the fine went straight to them.
The car manufacturer subsequently paid the fine and sent the bill to Frederick, along with a £30 admin fee - meaning he's not able to appeal the fine with NCP.
He's blasted the parking firm for not taking into consideration the fact that he was just 30p short of the correct money before sending him a £60 bill on top of what he'd already paid.
Speaking to the M.E.N, he said: "We won't be coming back to Manchester again. I just feel completely robbed. How can they not be sympathetic given we'd just pressed the wrong button?"
Frederick arrived in Manchester on Sunday, 30 October and went to look for a car park nearby to the Clayton Hotel where he was staying with his wife, cousin and his wife.
"When I went to look at the car park nearby for 24 hours it was astronomical," he said. "But given that it was the city centre and there were four of us we decided it would make sense to park there.
"We paid £27.65 but the charge for 24 hours was actually £27.95. It was £27.65 for seven hours so we must have accidentally clicked the wrong button on the machine.
"It wasn't very clear over the sake of 30p. This was two and a bit months ago. I have a Hyundai lease car so the parking fine had gone straight there and they had paid it and passed on the cost to me."
Frederick said that including the £30 admin fee, the £60 fine, and the initial money he spent on parking meant he spent a total of £117.50 to park for 24 hours.
"I tried to appeal against the parking fine and NCP just wouldn't accept it," hs said. "It said I couldn't appeal because the fine had already been paid. I have sent a letter of complaint to NCP. It's ridiculous.
"There's clearly an intention to pay by the fact I paid £27.65. It was my first time staying over in Manchester but I won't be coming back again."
A spokesperson for NCP said: "This particular case seems to be a combination of issues at play. Mr Brownson clearly made an honest mistake and chose the incorrect tariff of two tariff charges which were of similar value, and the company which he leased the vehicle off received the original Parking Charge Notice (PCN) and paid the PCN on behalf of Mr Brownson, without appealing or giving Mr Brownson the chance to appeal.
"This is the lease company’s internal policy which NCP have no influence over. Vehicle Lease companies usually contact NCP with the name and address of the driver of the vehicle so we are able to communicate with the driver regarding the PCN, but it also gives the driver the opportunity to appeal the PCN with NCP, or with an independent appeals service called POPLA (Parking On Private Land Appeals) which we absolutely welcome.
"NCP have a fair appeals service and although on this occasion the car park terms and conditions were breached for underpayment (Parked for 20 hours 55 minutes when the paid tariff meant Mr Brownson could only park for 7 hours), if Mr Brownson had been given the chance to appeal by his lease company common sense would have prevailed as it’s clearly an honest mistake.
"We will make contact Mr Brownson directly to agree a sensible resolution to this case. Finally, if Mr Brownson had signed up to our ParkPass app available on IOS or Android phones, he would have made a saving of £3 on his parking."
Hyundai Capital, who Mr Brownson leases his car from, have declined to comment.
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