COUNCIL chiefs have torn up the contract of the company which provides payment machines at 14 Worcester car parks in the long-running row over duplicate payments.
Guildhall bosses have ripped up its agreement with Flowbird after nearly £400,000 was taken from people’s bank accounts in September, the second such issue to befall the city’s parking machines.
Card payments have still to be restored since they were suspended in September, five months after the alarm was raised.
Duplicate payments were found as far back as August 27 since Worcester City Council were made aware of the issue at the end of September.
More than 200,000 duplicate payments were taken from customers’ accounts and Flowbird accepted responsibility for this issue last year.
City Council bosses say it has impacted 15,000 car parking sessions and has resulted in around £400,000 of income wrongly being paid into council coffers.
One of those affected told the Observer: “I went to Worcester on September 17 and parked in the Cattlemarket car park, paid £3.60 for the parking. Ever since then I have been having £3.60 come out of my account every few days.
The decision to scrap the deal was taken by the council’s Policy and Resources Committee following a review of arrangements, including two major issues at Flowbird payment machines in Worcester car parks.
In September 2021 there was a delay of up to 49 days in customers’ payments by card being taken, while a year later in September 2022 numerous customers were charged multiple times for parking.
In both cases the problems were not caused by the City Council, but by the payment machines and software supplied by Flowbird and the payment system operated by the company’s partner, Elavon.
Speaking after the decision was made, council leader Coun Chris Mitchell said: “I think most Worcester residents will understand why we have had to take this decision.
“Thousands of people were affected by these payment problems, with the most recent situation in September 2022 seeing £390,000 in incorrect payments being taken.
“All the multiple payments were eventually refunded, but it has damaged the reputation of our car park operation.
“People who live, visit and work in Worcester need to know that they can confidently use our car parks, so it is vital that the council acts in order to restore that trust.”
The council has now appointed Metric to supply new payment machines for its car parks. These are expected to be installed in the next few months, bringing with them the reintroduction of card payments.
