Mother accidentally charged £4,586 for a two-hour car park stay in Slough after paying without noticing the price
A mother was accidentally charged £4,586 when she parked at a multi-storey car park for two hours when she paid without noticing the price.
Yaditi Kava, 39, had gone on a shopping trip with her two young daughters at the Queensmere Observatory Shopping Centre, in Slough, on May 16.
After staying for dinner, and her girls 'getting tired', Ms Kava paid as she exited the car park as the pay machines were closed.
She quickly made the contactless payment and admitted she was 'in a rush and thought the '4,5' on the display meant £4.50.
But to her horror, she immediately received a text message from her bank to inform her £4,586 had been taken from her account.
Savills, which manages the centre, blamed the error on a faulty machine and said it was an 'isolated incident'.
Bosses had vowed to return the mother's money with three days, but it would take three weeks for the cash to show up in her bank.
Ms Kava had saved up the money to pay for legal fees for her divorce and said the stress almost caused her to cancel plans for her daughter's birthday.
She told the BBC: 'It was surreal - I just couldn't fathom that they had taken that money.'
A spokesperson for Savills told the broadcaster before the refund was issued: 'Savills can confirm that it is aware of an isolated incident concerning an anomaly with a parking charge in the car park.
'We have been in regular contact with the customer to rectify the issue as a matter of priority and can confirm a full refund is being processed.
'This was a very unusual occurrence, and we are investigating the car park system to prevent this from happening in the future.'
Disgruntled shoppers have previously complained about the dilapidated state of the car park, saying it stinks of urine.
Gordon Moffatt last year told the Maidenhead Advertiser he had issues when exiting the car park when the machine failed to accept his bank card.
'It shocked me the sense of the dilapidation [in] Slough,' he said. 'The town is falling into disrepair and Queensmere is a mirror of the town it serves.'
The shopping centre announced earlier this month it was permanently closing the car park as it 'no longer meets the expectations of today's shoppers or aligns with modern parking standards'.
The shopping centre announced earlier this month it was permanently closing the car park as it 'no longer meets the expectations of today's shoppers'
'As such, the decision has been made to close the car park to ensure the highest level of service for our visitors,' a statement read on the shopping centre's website.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the country's sovereign wealth fund, bought the centre in 2016 for £130million.
It recently sold the centre to developer Berkeley Homes with the deal expected to be rubber stamped in the summer.
The shopping centre is expected to be demolished with outline planning permission for 1,600 homes on the 9.2-acre site.
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