From a £1 ticket to a £244 fine: Ipswich man shocked after 16-minute stay in car park

Peter Tuvey, a business owner in Ipswich, says his wife was parked the car they share in the Tower Ramparts car park for 16 minutes and paid for the £1 ticket required to do so.

Weeks later however, a letter from a solicitor told the couple they now owed £244.44 - because Mrs Tuvey had not entered the correct licence plate details when she parked.

Mr and Mrs Tuvey claim they received no correspondence from NCP about a fine before the situation was escalated to lawyers.

"In my opinion this is daylight robbery," said Mr Tuvey.

"The parking fee of £1 was paid and this has already been accepted by NCP's lawyers.

"It is also accepted that my wife made a mistake when entering the vehicle registration number into the machine.

"But she paid by debit card and there is a clear record that she paid the £1 parking charge."

NCP refused to comment on the case and are writing to the customer directly.

Mr Tuvey believes the fine needs to be overturned.

He added: "I have read on the NCP website they do not profit from penalty notices - someone please explain how charging a 24,300% mark-up is not profit making.

"By entering the wrong licence I'm told we've breached a contract with NCP and I will be taken to court as the registered owner.

"I'm happy to take this all the way to court. If the judgment goes against me I'll pay the fine if it warns the local population not to use NCP car parks."

Other drivers have also had problems at the Ipswich town centre car park. Two drivers in the last six months, Sandra Bates and Ceiran Beaumont, both received £100 fines after spending more than 10 minutes searching for a space, going over the grace period that NCP allow for this car park.

Another, Alison Harrald, got her fine after trying and failing to pay for her ticket by phone for 15 minutes before parking elsewhere in November 2018.

NCP did cancel Mrs Bates' fine as a gesture of goodwill but upheld the other two.