Fuming solicitor: "I paid for parking at Brighton Station but have been fined £170"

Mike Townley paid £2.60 to park at the car park owned by Southern Rail on their land at Brighton station on January 6.

But eight weeks later he and his wife Davina received a demand from a debt collection agency for £170.

Despite showing the debt collectors a bank statement showing he made the payment they refused to waive their bill.

Mr Townley accused Southern’s owners Govia Thameslink over the problems, criticising the management firm Indigo and their debt collectors ZZPS.

Solicitor Mr Townley said he was now considering taking the issue to the Information Commissioner and the Department for Transport.

He said: “I am not doing this for myself. I am doing this for justice.

“How many other people have received one of these threatening notices and paid it?

“What a ruthless system this is, one that is really all about getting money that is not even due.

“Most importantly they say they have no record of my payment.I paid and we can prove it,

“Ultimately responsibility for everything is with GTR as rail operator’.

“They are seeking to charge a penalty equal to 65 times the initial parking charge when the original charge has been paid.

“Even if it had not been paid, is a 65 time penalty justified?

“ZZPS have flatly refused to accept the evidence of payment of the correct charge to Indigo Parking via my bank statement, they say this is not good enough to prove that I paid and are insisting on the ticket.”

The penalty notice sent to Mr Townley gives no detail of the parking offence he is alleged to have committed and the firm has been unable to give him any proof of what he is supposed to have done wrong.

Mr Townley said the first he knew of the supposed unpaid ticket was last week we he received a letter from ZZPS. The debt collectors claimed to have previously written to his wife Davina - who the car is registered to - offering them the chance to pay a lower fine of £60 - but the couple are adamant they never received the first notice.

He added: “They said ZZPS had been unable to provide them with any proof the first notice had been sent and when they offered to pay the lower amount refused to negotiate.

“Despite the evidence via my bank statement that I had actually paid. ZZPS said I needed the actual receipt from the pay-machine. Amazingly I found it under the passenger seat of our car- but the ticket says on it ‘this is not a ticket’.

He said Govia Thamelink Railway is the ‘rail operator’ and therefore the controller of all the land and property connected to Brighton Main Station, including the car park.

“GTR are seeking to charge a Penalty and Admin equal to 65 times the initial parking charge when the initial charge has been paid.

“If GTR have inadequate record keeping to distinguish between who has and who hasn’t paid this could be a serious breach of Data Protection law.

“ZZPS are not entitled to charge the £70 administration fee and GTR could be liable to re-pay these sums to all the people that have ever paid these unlawful admin fees.”

Debt collectors ZZPS said they were acting for Indigo Parking Solutions which runs parking services at the station.

ZZPS did not respond to The Argus’ request for a comment.

A spokeswoman for Indigo told The Argus they were investigating the matter and could not comment further. The Argus also contacted Govia Thameslink Railway.