A WEST Cumbrian man wants to be taken to court to have his say in the latest row over tickets at a town centre car park.

Barrie Bryce, 69, of Distington was handed a fine by the managers of a Workington car park despite paying for parking.

The facility, on Vulcan Park, is managed by HX Car Park Management, which came under fire earlier this year when Workington MP Sue Hayman called for people to boycott it.

Mrs Hayman's comments came after an increasing number of people sought her help after being fined despite paying for parking there.

And Mr Bryce's case is no exception. His partner Maureen Patton, 70, parked her car at the town's facility on June 20.

But later she received a letter demanding a payment of £60, stating four digits were missing from the number plate inserted in the parking machine.

Mr Bryce said: "The point is we paid to park there. And there is no chance we missed off dour digits, it's impossible."

Mr Bryce, like many other users who have contacted the News & Star, believes the machine is faulty. He said the fine, which the couple refused to pay, has now risen to £160 and he wants HX to take him to court so he can confront them and have his say.

But a spokesman for HX denied the machine was faulty.

"The machine was not at fault as other users were able to enter their full and valid Vehicle Registration Numbers (VRN). Their claim that it is impossible they missed out so many digits is incorrect, [..] others users were able to enter their full and valid VRNs therefore evidencing that the fault lies with the user, and not the machine," said the spokesman.

Mr Bryce said: "I've talked to a solicitor and she said the best thing is to take it to the small claims court, I was worried it was going to be expensive and we would have to pay all sorts of charges if we lost. I want to go and have my say, I want my day in court with them - we're not the only people this has happened to."

He added the solicitor reassured him costs would only be likely to be just over £100.

Mr Bryce said he did try to complain to HX immediately, but he could not speak to anyone at the company.

He initially tried to ring the number quoted in the letter that came with the fine, but he could not speak to anyone.

After sending the company an email saying the couple wanted to appeal the fine, he went to the Citizens Advice Bureau, which sent a letter to the company. But HX told them that because Mr Bryce had already notified them of their intention to appeal, the letter from CAB would be ignored. He also sought help from Mrs Hayman and Copeland MP Trudy Harrison.

Mr Bryce said: "You can't get through to this company - Citizens Advice tried, Sue Hayman tried and so did Trudy Harrison."

But HX once again refused Mr Bryce's claims: "We did receive correspondence from Citizens Advice Bureau, however at that point, Mr Bryce had already appealed a month before to us directly, therefore their statement that someone told them we would ignore CAB is duly incorrect. On receipt of the letter from CAB, we wrote twice to Mr Bryce explaining again the reason for the appeal decline and the options to appeal further to The Independent Appeals Service - as a goodwill gesture we also reduced the fine for them however this was not accepted."

The company confirmed the case was in the process of being taken to the small claims court.

A date for the hearing has not yet been set.