I RECENTLY parked in Church Street car park at 8 pm. Outside an evening rate of £5.50 was advertised.

When returning to the car at ten past midnight the ticket machine requested a payment of £25.50 – £20 more than we anticipated.

Having looked at some small print it became apparent that the evening rate finishes at midnight and customers are then charged for 24 hours parking irrespective of how long they have parked for.

This so called evening rate is, in my opinion, a blatant attempt by NCP to entice someone to use the car park and exploit the fact that there are terms and conditions that are poorly displayed.

If the evening rate finishes at midnight – presumably as this is the start of a new day – then why were we not charged for one additional hour’s parking on top of the evening rate?

To charge £20 for ten minutes parking is quite simply a sick joke and yet another reason to avoid visiting our city.

Simon Hall, Kingsland Road, Worthing