Thatcham ticket machine was faulty, admits car parking firm
APCOA says it will look into individual cases after 49 motorists were fined at train station
A NATIONAL car park management company has admitted that a faulty machine at Thatcham railway station meant some customers were fined unfairly.
APCOA, which is contracted by First Great Western, issued 49 car parking fines between February 1 and April 30 to people who had not purchased tickets.
During this time, several customers complained that they had not been able to buy a ticket with cash and the parking attendant who was present would not accept their money.
Despite APCOA's website stating that customers can pay with cash at the ticket machines, when they arrived they discovered signs that instructed them to pay by mobile phone.
On Tuesday, APCOA spokeswoman Laura Stanley admitted that parts of the ticket machine had not been working properly owing to a problem with charging it up and this meant that the
machine was not accepting cash payments, and that the machine was due to be replaced.
She said: “There was an issue with the solar charger in the machine.
“This has now been rectified and the battery is changed twice a week to ensure any downtime is kept to a minimum.
“A new machine is being installed in the coming days.”
She said that of the 49 parking fines that had been issued during that period, 18 had now been cancelled, six are still outstanding and 14 have been paid.
She added that any customer who believed that they wrongly paid a fine should contact APCOA customer services, as each case would be looked into individually.
However, one motorist who was fined said that APCOA had tried to scare people into paying the fines.
Mr Gadsden was fined on February 1, for not purchasing a ticket.
He refused to pay the £80 charge after reading about others who had been caught out in similar circumstances on the internet.
However, he said that he had to put up with threatening letters from APCOA, debt collectors and solicitors.
He said: “They sent me a lot of nasty letters and they were coming fairly frequently.
“A lot of people would get scared and give them the money.
It seems it's a public intimidation process.”
He added that the letters had stopped about three weeks ago said that he hoped that would be the end of the matter.
Another Thatcham resident, Sarah Purvis, said that she complained to APCOA about her £50 fine, and the company quashed it, asking her to pay the £3.40 she owed for the parking.
