Man hit with whopping £573 charge after a day in a Milton Keynes car park

A man was charged more than £570 after a day in a Milton Keynes car park – prompting others with similar experiences to come forward.

Mr Dino Vescera said Saba Parking hit him with the “whopping” triple-figure fee for parking at Bletchley railway station at the weekend, despite entering his details correctly on two separate machines.

Mr Vescera parked at the station just after 10am on Friday and returned from London at around 12.15am Saturday.

When he entered his registration into the ticket machine, the fee was £573 for parking there since late July, which he said he did not do.

Mr Vescera asked others online if they had also had any problems parking at the station.

One person said their husband had “exactly” the same experience, claiming it was a system error.

Mr Vescera had feared his registration plate could have been cloned.

He also feared it could be a scam and wondered how closely Saba Parking is monitoring payments that should trigger suspicion.

He decided not to pay, to trace his whereabouts on July 25, and to complain to Saba Parking.

“On Friday, I parked my car around 10.15am,” said Mr Vescera. “I headed to London and arrived back around 12.15am, Saturday.

“I put my correct registration plate number in the machine to pay and the fee showed as a whopping £573.

“I did a double take and thought this must be a prank or I am losing my eyesight.

“I re-entered my correct details on the second machine and the same fee of £573 showed and told me I had entered the car park on July 25, at 6.57pm, which I had not.

“I know car parks can be expensive, but the charge is a bit drastic, is it not?

“Has my car registration plate been cloned or is it simply a system error with the camera that takes photos of you arriving and departing?”

He added: “I am 100 per cent certain I did not go to the railway station on July 25 and leave it there for three months.

“I did not pay at all. There are no barriers there, so I left pondering the fee and tried to trace my whereabouts by looking on my phone to see where I was on July 25.

“What is worrying is, what if it is a scam and the machine has been compromised? What if it happened to someone else, and they just put their credit card in and paid without looking at the fee?

“What fee has to be incurred before they send a letter out? I will be contacting [Saba Parking] today.”

One resident replied: “My husband had exactly the same issue. Same dates, same amounts. He called up the parking company to clarify and they said there was an error. Definitely call them up, they will sort it out quickly.”

Another replied: “This [was] done to me. Only parked for the day, wanted me to pay £28 instead of £6 – or I could have the option of a weekly ticket of £20. Paid the £20, just wanted to get out of the car park. Have done it online since.”

Saba Parking was approached for comment.