Milton Keynes hospital car park payments under investigation after man notices random sums deducted from bank account

Neil Sydenham has visited the hospital four times this year and each time paid up to £3.70 by card in a machine at the multi storey car park, which is used by hundreds of people daily.

But when Neil recently checked his bank statements, he claims he had actually been charged TWICE each time.

Neil alleges that each second charge was different to the original – and says a couple were for double the amount. The company responsible for the car park, Saba UK, would not go into detail but said the claims are being investigated.

“I’m not sure if it’s a software glitch or something else. But I felt it needed to be investigated,” he said.

Neil is now keen to discover whether he is the only person affected or whether it has happened to other people who use the car park.

"My main concern is that could be a lot of people unaware – people who don’t have access to online banking and would have no idea that they may be being overcharged,” he said.

The car park is run by Saba UK, who are now investigating Neil’s complaint after he presented them with his bank statements.

His first visit this year was on January 17, when he paid £3.20 at the machine. He says his statement shows that amount being deducted by Saba, followed by another charge of £3.95.

“On the 5th July I visited and the parking cost was £3.70. I was then charged again for £3.45,” he said.

“On the 23rd August my parking cost was £3.70. But I was then charged again twice for the sum of £3.45. This totalled £6.90.”

Neil claims he visited again on September 1 and paid the parking cost of £3.70. This time, he says, his statement showed a second charge of more than double the original – for £7.65.

“The total overcharge this year is £21.45,” he said.

“There is also a charge of £7.10 on the 30th November 2021, which I am also questioning, as this is a very large charge for parking.

“I have reported this to the Saba. Their response was to ask me to send an email with a copy of my bank statements to their customer support with the subject line ‘Refund Request’… I just think this needs to be investigated.”

The Citizen presented Neil’s claims to the Saba UK press office.

We asked if these were one-off glitches or whether there could be a wider problem affecting other users of the car park.

A spokesman told us: “As this matter is currently being investigated by our customer support team, we will not be providing a comment.”