Manish Wadhwani (32), a software engineer, was charged £3,731 for parking for six hours when he took his wife and 3-year-old son, along with his parents to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, London.
Wadhwani, from Watford, had pre-booked a£5 all-day parking deal at the NCP car park, but the bill at the exit shocked him. “My first reaction was to scream in shock. I have never experienced anything like this before. It was the most expensive Christmas trip ever.”
It is believed that an error occurred when he has used the same parking deal in August, but the NCP system had not registered his exit. He had been charged for 93 days of parking. Wadhwani said, “I booked into the car park on August 23 but when I was exiting there was a problem and it wouldn't work. I had to call for assistance and the operator lifted the barrier to let me out. As far as I know they never registered me leaving.”
It is said that the company launched an investigation into Wadhwani's charges and confirmed that he would be getting a refund.
An NCP spokesperson said, “Our investigation showed us that the customer had parked with us in August, and hadn't exited the car park using the card he used on entry, this may be due to a barrier already been raised. As a consequence when he parked on Sunday, the parking equipment believed he had overstayed from his August booking. The system believed he was on an overcharge stay and charged him accordingly. We offer our most sincere apologies and have immediately refunded this customer.”
Wadhwani affirmed, “I think I will be keeping clear of NCP car parks until they update their systems properly.”
