“This just isn’t right. It’s causing me a lot of stress.”

A Rugby chauffeur is frustrated after being landed with a £170 parking fine after an airport drop-off.

Stephen Lister, of Executive Cars Rugby, said his vehicle is registered with Gatwick Airport’s AutoPay system, which has always efficiently collected payment without issue.

He said: “Following a drop-off in the summer, the payment was not collected and I have now received a £170 parking charge notice for what should have been a £10 drop-off.

“I appealed twice, including through the Independent Appeals Service, but both appeals were rejected.

“Times24, which handles the charge, has suggested that the letter R on my number plate may have been obscured.”

Stephen tried to resolve the matter and offered to pay the original £10 tariff without admitting liability for the extra charge.

“That offer has not resolved the dispute, and I have now been told that the charge has been referred to debt recovery,” he went on.

“My concern is not about avoiding legitimate airport charges. I am happy to pay the correct tariff. It is about whether motorists can have confidence in automated payment systems and whether a disputed payment failure should escalate into a charge ten times the original amount.”

Stephen has evidence that he has an active account, a valid payment card and previous successful payments using the same vehicle registration at Gatwick.

“I had no reason to expect the system wouldn’t work,” he said.

“I have retained the correspondence, appeal decisions, PCN documents and AutoPay records and I’m now seeking legal advice.”

He said the situation is causing him a lot of stress.

“I regularly use airport drop-off facilities,” said Stephen.

“I estimate that I spend around £3,500 a year on airport drop-off fees across airports including Heathrow, Birmingham, Luton, East Midlands and Manchester.

“This is a matter of principle. I wasn’t trying to get out of paying the £10 fee. I run a reputable company.”

A spokesman for Times24 UK, said: “We believe this parking charge has been issued and handled correctly.

“The customer has followed both our internal appeals procedure and the second stage independent adjudication appeals process , who have assessed and confirmed we have followed all due processes under the Single Sector Code of Practice and under UK Contract Law.

“There are two cameras on site. One is infrared and one is a colour capture; the latter takes an ordinary image of the vehicle which is seen on the original parking charge. The infrared camera uses invisible illumination to check accurate character recognition.

“If there is an issue with the vehicle's registration plate, as appears to be the case here in relation to the R, the infrared camera will highlight it.

“We understand the customer has an autopay account, but it remains each customer's responsibility to ensure that the required payment is made in line with the terms and conditions displayed at the drop off zone.”

The spokesman said the systems were fully functioning for other vehicles to be correctly captured at the time of the contravention and payments to be made successfully.

Stephen said he wouldn’t have been able to pay on the day anyway if the system wasn’t recognising the R on his number plate.

He added: “This just isn’t right.

“It’s causing me a lot of stress.”