A holidaymaker to Cornwall has vowed never to visit a seaside town again after being 'scammed' by a car park operator even though he paid to stay.
Paul Spooner and his wife Christine travelled down from their home in Lincolnshire to Sennen Cove in West Cornwall for a family reunion.
Paul, a government employee, parked the family car in the village's beach car park and paid £9 at 2.11pm on Friday April 7 for a 24 hours stay which his bank statement attests to.
However the machine, which took his car registration details, did not issue a ticket and as other cars didn't have any tickets either but as he had paid, Paul thought it would still be OK to use the car park, reports Cornwall Live.
However he received a fine for £100 and when he tried to call car parking operator Armtrac Security to appeal the fine, he couldn't get through for two days.
He also emailed them armed with evidence of his payment for his stay and did not receive any reply until 21 days had passed and Armtrac told him his appeal had not been made within the 21-day period.
"They wouldn't even accept my proof of payment. They were rude on the phone and put the phone down on me twice," the 49-year-old said.
"When I managed to get hold of them again, it was the same woman I had had before and she even denied ever speaking to me. I think the way these people operate is scandalous. It feels like a total scam."
Paul said the email address used by Armtrac did not correspond to the one on their website and the headed paper letter he received about his appeal being turned down had bits of information and further details covered with corrector fluid as well as information about a link car park users should use which led nowhere and didn't work.
Armtrac are part of the International Parking Community (IPC) but are not members of the British Parking Association which means motorists cannot take the matter to POPLA if the company rejects an appeal. POPLA is an independent appeals service for Parking Charge Notices issued on private land.
Paul said: "It very much feels like the appeal system is design to make you pay £100 and not appeal. I don't know what they expected me to do. Pay again at another machine in the hope it would issue a ticket.
"I've come to Cornwall many times. But it's the last time we'll ever visit Sennen Cove. I think the shops in the village need to realise that the way the car park operates will impact their trade negatively if people don't come any more."
It is not the first time the parking firm has been branded a 'scam' after it dished out countless Parking Charge Notices (PCN) to people last August who used the other car park it operates in the village (Sennen Top Car Park) for not entering their car's full number plate, when the actual ticket machine called on visitors to only enter the last three digits - making it impossible to comply.
The mix-up meant Armtrac issued dozens of £100 charges to locals and visitors alike - for simply following the instructions on the machine.
