A parking firm has apologised after scores of drivers were wrongly hit with fixed penalty notices.
APCOA Parking, which operates the car park at Dunfermline’s Kingsgate shopping centre, said a “small number” of customers were issued with £60 charges due to a technical issue with its pay by phone system.
The company has pledged to cancel all incorrectly issued charges and write to everyone affected by the issue.
Drivers reacted angrily to the apology on the company’s Facebook page, with some claiming up to 900 people were affected by the error.
The new system allows people to park then phone APCOA, telling them how long they would like to stay and giving payment details over the phone.
They are then sent a text asking for their car’s registration number before the payment is confirmed.
The system is used at a number of APCOA’s car parks and was recently introduced in Dunfermline.
Some customers have branded the scheme “a shambles”, claiming payment instructions are unclear, resulting in confusion about how much is due.
One said: “The old system was fine.
“It just seems they are deliberately trying to catch people out now to send them tickets.”
Another woman added: “I got falsely accused of legging it and not paying my parking tariff.”
ACPOA said the aim of the new system had been to make parking quicker for those not paying by cash.
“APCOA invested in and introduced a new automatic number-plate recognition system at our car park at Kingsgate Shopping Centre, Dunfermline, which included the introduction of new card payment facilities,” the company said.
“The system was installed to improve our customers’ parking experience and enable us to provide a quicker, more convenient journey for customers with cashless payments services like APCOA Connect.”
It added: “Unfortunately, due to a technical issue with our pay by phone solution, APCOA Connect, a small number of customers have been issued with a penalty charge notice (PCN) incorrectly.
“This issue has been fully investigated and the technical issues have been addressed.
“All incorrectly issued PCNs will be cancelled and we will be writing to all customers who have been mistakenly affected by this issue.”
