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A former IT specialist warned shopping centre bosses about flaws in their new parking system - before seeing his grandson hit with seven unwarranted £100 fines.
Ray Chitty says he raised the alarm with The Mall in Maidstone back in February after using the updated payment set-up at the centre's car park, arguing the new process could be difficult for those without the requisite digital know-how.
This week KentOnline reported how one driver, former butcher John Jenner, was hit with a £100 fine after mistakenly entering his vehicle registration incorrectly.
YourParkingSpace, which operates the car park, says anyone like Mr Jenner, who paid to park but entered the incorrect vehicle details, will have their fines cancelled.
Mr Chitty, who lives in Vinters Park, Maidstone, says he felt the system had numerous flaws and raised his concerns with The Mall directly.
"In February I went up to the car park and found that the barrier had gone," the 71-year-old retired IT project manager said. "There were signs everywhere, they were contradictory signs.
"What do I pay? Do I pay on an app, do I pay on exit? I thought 'this is all a bit jumbled up'.
"I paid my money, and I went home. I check our bank accounts on my phone, and a couple of days later the £2 had not been taken out. So I thought 'hang on a minute, I don't want a £100 fine'.
"So I rang The Mall and said 'this company you have got running this car park, there's going to be all sorts of issues here'."
Mr Chitty says he was subsequently called back by the parking firm and was told there was no record of him being in the car park that day.
Later on his grandson, who works at a town centre bank, fell foul of the new digital system, which is designed to be more Covid-secure by removing barriers and reducing physical contact.
Because his registration had been wrongly recorded in the parking system, even though his employer provides staff with spaces to park there, he was sent seven fines of £100.
"Our technology is there to improve the experience..."
The error was later corrected, but Mr Chitty says it caused unnecessary stress while the situation was ironed out.
YourParkingSpace chief executive Harrison Woods says that in the vast majority of cases drivers have no problem with the new system, which still retains an option to pay in cash at some machines in the car park.
He says the company is planning to stage a series of focus groups with customers who have raised issues with the new set-up in a bid to refine the process.
One change expected soon is a method for the vehicle registration tracking system to include some tolerance for small variations in numbers entered, to try to reduce the number of drivers accidentally receiving fines.
He said: "Our technology is there to improve the experience, and give not just the traditional way of paying by card and cash, but also by other ways that reduce queues.
"We are going to run some focus groups with anyone who has written in so we can actually meet them on site, we can get their feedback, we can show them how to use it."
The parking operator says it is aware of a small percentage of customers who have been fined due to entering an incorrect vehicle registration when paying, but they say this has affected just under 1.5% of all customers.
