A Lockwood man was shocked to receive a £60 parking fine from a visit to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary - even though he left before his ticket expired.

Ian Wheeler challenged the fine after receiving a demand from Civil Enforcement Limited, the Liverpool-based company that runs the hospital car park and many others across the UK.

The 63-year-old successfully challenged the demand for payment as he had kept his parking ticket from his visit to the Acre Mills site which proved he had left before his two-hour ticket expired.

Now he is asking how many other drivers have been affected by what could be a glitch in the automatic number plate recognition system - or whether they are victims of a deliberate ‘sting’ designed to intimidate people by threatening a visit from bailiffs, or court action.

“Something is going wrong here,” said Mr Wheeler, who lives in Lockwood with his partner, Barbara.

“It’s either a blip in the system or they are targeting drivers at random and sending these t

hings out hoping that people will pay. It’s scandalous. If it’s happening on a large scale then it’s just a con.”

Ian Wheeler who had car parking problems at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary

Mr Wheeler parked at the infirmary’s Acre Mills site on November 30. He left less than two hours later, within his ticketed time. But on December 19 he received the Parking Charge Notice. The letter included a photograph of his car entering the hospital grounds at 13:00 and leaving at 14:56.

The letter stated: “Failure to pay the amount within 28 days may result in Civil Enforcement Ltd forwarding your account to a debt recovery agency and incurring additional costs.”

After several calls to the company’s number, which accepts automated payments, he eventually wrote with details of his ticket and the fine was quashed.

But he is angry and frustrated that Civil Enforcement Ltd was able to access his details from the DVLA despite him not committing an offence.

“Under the Data Protection Act they should not be accessing people’s data unless an offence was committed. It’s clear this isn’t a one-off mistake by them and there could be many more people who are being fined by this company. The system is corrupt and any businesses that allow them to operate on their behalf are complicit.”

Civil Enforcement Ltd is a member of the British Parking Association. Membership of the BPA’s Approved Operator Scheme enables them to request keeper data from the DVLA.

Lesley Hill, Director of Estates at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Wherever we are alerted to the fact there is a payments issue with the car parking at any of our sites we would always investigate and look to reimburse if there has been an error.”

Motorists who believe they have been unfairly fined can appeal via Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA) at https://popla.co.uk/