Price of negligence

THIS is a salutary lesson I pass on to readers on mistakes to avoid when using a car park – whatever you do, don’t use an old ticket.

To briefly recap, I used the London Bridge NCP on July 6 from 10.55am to 12.52pm. I fed the ticket in when exiting the car park, tapped my debit card on the reader and left. It was only at midnight that I looked at the receipt and got a shock – I had been charged £643.20.

The man I got through to in customer relations at that time of night suggested I had probably used an old ticket. This was exactly what I had done.

I had used the same car park on June 16 and paid £3.20 for parking from 10.53am to 11.52am. But on that day the exit barrier, which was not working, had been pulled up by a rope.

I was advised to pay at a side machine, which I did – it gave me my receipt as well as returned the ticket, which foolishly I retained. Normally the ticket is swallowed by the machine when you tap your debit card as you leave.

And it was this ticket I used when leaving on July 6 – meaning I was charged from 11.52am on June 16 to 12.52pm on July 6. Hence the bill for £643.20.

In desperation I turned to Michelle McCarthy, at the NCP’s Voicebox Public Relations, who understood my predicament and had the problem sorted out within a couple of hours. She wins my “press officer of the year” award.

NCP refunded £643.20 minus, of course, £6.40 for parking on July 6.

It makes me wonder what other mistakes I make when I am in a hurry. It pays to glance at receipts – which, like most people, I hardly ever do.