Posted on the 27th February 2026 in PHTM News
PRIVATE HIRE DRIVER'S FURY AS BIRMINGHAM AIRPORT PARKING GLITCH SWIPES £1,955 IN AN INSTANT
A PH driver was left in shock after an automated parking system at Birmingham Airport drained nearly £2,000 from his bank account due to a computer error.
Ian Cook, 56, who runs the private hire firm Call Cookie, made two brief drop-offs at the Premium Set Down car park three days apart.
However, the NCP cameras failed to record him leaving the first time. When he returned for a second job, the system calculated he had been parked there for over 79 hours.
“The next day I got an email invoice as usual but to my horror I had been charged £1,955 and they had already taken that money from my account,” Ian told the Herald.
“Apparently, I had parked in the Premium Set Down for three days, seven hours 45 minutes and 41 seconds!”
Despite the obvious error, Ian says he faced a "disgusting" attitude from customer service staff who refused an immediate refund, insisting on a lengthy investigation.
Ian, who was due to fly to Tenerife for a holiday, spent his week battling to get his money back. “I said: ‘You know, it's not 50 quid you've taken, you've taken nearly two grand!’
But there was no reaction or care, it’s like they’re reading off a script,” he said. “It is disgraceful and not acceptable, I’m not even sure it's lawful.”
NCP eventually agreed to a refund after the Herald and Birmingham Airport intervened, stating: “We are sincerely sorry for the experience that Mr Cook had with us. This is an unusual situation, and we are currently investigating this to understand what happened to cause this.”
However, the stress continues for Ian. While the refund has been "initiated," he was still charged £12 for the two visits and has been told it could take 10 days for the money to reappear.
He noted the lack of a personal apology, saying: “No apology, no explanation as to what happened, no offer of compensation, just a ‘refund initiated’ receipt.”
Ian believes the incident is a symptom of a wider problem, concluding: “Everyone is just trying to make money out of parking, it’s greed.”
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