A WOMAN has been left in financial crisis by faulty car park machines which took out six weeks of fees in one lump sum.

Hannah Scott, from Upper Sapey, works in the city centre and parks her car five days a week in one of two Worcester City Council car parks.

The 35-year-old was "absolutely horrified" to find a lump sum over £100 taken from her account on Monday morning from Newport Street and Tybridge Street car parks.

Worcester News revealed last week that an Elavon system error has caused a delay in money being taken for parking sessions.

Elavon operates the merchant banking software used in the city council’s car park machines.

A Worcester City Council spokeswoman said it has contacted Miss Scott directly to discuss her situation.

Miss Scott assumed everything had been normal with the payments as her banking app had continued to send her automatic notifications each time she paid for parking.

However, the money had not been taken out of her account and was instead taken out in a lump sum totalling over £130.

"As soon as my phone pinged and said I was low on funds and almost £200 had gone I wondered what had happened.

"I was scrolling and scrolling through pages of £3.50 and £6 charges from the car parks dating back to July 27.

Worcester News:

"I'm not disputing I have parked there but you don't expect it to come out all in one go.

"I wasn't panicked at first because I thought it was an error and it would be returned but I was absolutely horrified when I realised they had taken it in a lump sum.

"The money was there at the time otherwise it would have declined but now it has taken it out of my rent money leaving me in financial crisis.

Miss Scott added the situation had been the final brink of the 'month from hell' after also having issues with childcare costs.

She believes the council and Elavon should have publicised the issues before the money was taken and offered either a payment plan for those with a significant amount taken or money returned as a goodwill gesture.

"I have never heard of bank transactions being taken out nearly two months after you've made the payment, this cannot be allowed to happen to people," she added.

The city council spokeswoman added: "We’d like to apologise to all customers who may have been affected by this issue.

"We take this matter extremely seriously and are working hard to ensure that it does not reoccur."