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A City worker today told of his shock after being charged almost £4,000 for six hours parking when he took his family to London’s Winter Wonderland festival.

Software engineer Manish Wadhwani, 32, said: “My first reaction was to scream in shock. I have never experienced anything like this before. It was the most expensive Christmas trip ever.”

Mr Wadhwani visited the Hyde Park attraction with his wife, his three-year-old son and his parents who had flown in from India on Sunday afternoon.

He had pre-booked a £5 all-day parking deal at the NCP car park in Portland Square - but when he tried to exit five hours later, was hit with a parking bill of £3,731 at the barrier.

NCP initially told him the transaction could not be cancelled and he now faces potential penalty fees after maxing out his credit card due to the mix-up.

The father-of-one from Watford believes the error was caused because he had used the same £5 deal in August but the NCP system did not register his exit from the 500-space car park.

It meant the clock kept ticking for three months until his second visit at the weekend when the computer thought he had been parked for 93 days.

He told the Standard: “I booked into the car park on August 23 but when I was exiting there was a problem and it wouldn’t work.

“I had to call for assistance and the operator lifted the barrier to let me out. As far as I know they never registered me leaving.”

NCP said it could not cancel Mr Wadhwani’s transaction for several days despite frantic phone calls pleading with NCP to scrap the fee before he accrued penalty fees for going over his credit limit.

He said: “The most embarrassing part was that I had to borrow money from my sister to buy my brother’s wedding anniversary gift. I asked if it could be cancelled quicker but they said it cannot be fast-tracked.

“NCP needs to change the system it uses and update its policies so this does not happen to anyone else.”

An NCP spokesman said the company has launched an investigation into Mr Wadhwani’s charges and confirmed he would get a refund.

He said: “Our investigation showed us that the customer had parked with us in August, and hadn’t exited the car park using the card he used on entry, this may be due to a barrier already been raised.

“As a consequence when he parked on Sunday the parking equipment believed he had overstayed from his August booking.

“The system believed he was on an overcharge stay and charged him accordingly.

“We offer our most sincere apologies and have immediately refunded this customer.”

Mr Wadhwani added: “I think I will be keeping clear of NCP car parks until they update their systems properly.”