MOTORISTS in Abergavenny are being urged by the town's Chamber of Trade to correctly input their car registration into the pay machine at Cibi Walk car park to avoid being fined.

Technical problems with the machine at the car were highlighted in April when it came to light that fines were being issued even when car registrations were inputted correctly - a problem management company Parking Eye says has now have been rectified.

Despite this the complaints have continued and The Chronicle has been inundated with complaints from people who have been fined after failing to input the full registration number of their vehicle into the machine.

President of Abergavenny's Chamber of Trade, Susi Cernoch said, "It's a huge blow to learn that some visitors had unpleasant experiences at the hands of Parking Eye who administer the parking in the location in question.

"I have received many letters and telephone calls of complaint, including some from people who have received by post a sizeable parking fine for overstaying their ticket.

"Their main complaint has been that the amounts involved are far in excess of the charges imposed by Monmouthshire County Council in their car parks, where overstays can be settled in the first hour by paying £1 at one of the ticket machines.

"People have even been complaining of receiving parking fines at times when they have bought and paid for a ticket and have left the car park well before its expiry time.

"I have researched why this might be the case, and although there were problems with the equipment in the early days of its installation, these have been sorted out.

"The problems are now with how the equipment is used by the public," said Ms Cernoch

"The system deployed by Parking Eye requires the full registration number of your vehicle to be entered into the machine when purchasing a ticket, and there have been occasions where the number has been keyed in inaccurately or incompletely, resulting in the cameras picking up a car number that doesn't appear to be covered by a valid ticket.

"We can only suggest that shoppers keep their parking tickets to hand for a while after visiting Abergavenny, it is easy to establish any discrepancies with the numbers you entered and the fines can and will be cancelled by Parking Eye," she advised.

"To be fair to Parking Eye, I have also learned that there were also some cases involving shoppers who have arrived back at their cars a few minutes (or more) after their tickets have expired and then learned that they were landed with an onerous and unexpected fine.

"While this will sting, clearly it's the shoppers who were at fault here and we cannot intervene - they must pay up, I'm afraid.

"We must emphasise to shoppers that where they outstay their allotted time or park without purchasing a ticket at all, they render themselves subject to the terms and conditions of use as displayed by the parking administration company and we can do little to assist them if they are fined under these circumstances.

"That said, there has been some bad feeling engendered as a result of what could perhaps be called clumsy handling while the parking company was enforcing its terms and conditions.

"As a result, the Chamber of Trade is now in negotiation with the management of Cibi Walk shopping centre to attempt to reach a solution to this problem that is acceptable to all affected parties."

Ms Cernoch concludes, "The Chamber's priority is to ensure that our shoppers and visitors have the best possible time when they come into town.

"They just need to ensure they follow the clear instructions seen in all our car parks for paying and displaying their tickets.

"Oh, and if in doubt, please purchase a car park ticket for the whole day – once you get here we're sure you'll be tempted to stay longer than a couple of hours."