Refunds of duplicate car parking payments are underway

Refunds of duplicate car parking payments are now underway, with 183,000 payments expected to appear in customers' accounts by next week.

Flowbird has confirmed to the Council that on Sunday October 16, all 56,000 duplicate payments made by Mastercard were processed, with the cash expected to arrive in bank accounts during the week commencing Monday 24 October.

Flowbird has also confirmed that Visa card transactions were processed last night (October 17) which will mean a further 127,000 duplicate payments being refunded to customers. These will start showing within the next five working days.

Those customers who have cancelled their bank cards, or whose bank card has expired since they made their initial parking ticket purchase, will have to wait a little longer. If the bank card is no longer valid for either of those reasons, then repayments will be rejected. The Council has been informed that its providers are working on a process to make these payments as soon as is practically possible.

Shane Flynn, Director of Finance at Worcester City Council, said: "We are pleased that this situation is now beginning to be resolved and that our customers will soon start to receive their refunds. We'd like to thank everyone for their patience and we will continue to provide regular updates until everyone has been refunded.

"We know that this matter has been not only frustrating for customers, but has left many people, albeit temporarily, out of pocket. It appears that people whose bank cards have been expired or cancelled will have to wait slightly longer than others to get their refunds. We sincerely apologise for this, but once again, I would urge people to get in touch if they are facing financial hardship as the Council can provide emergency refunds where necessary."

Anyone suffering acute financial hardship and requiring immediate financial support because of the issue, should send evidence of duplicate payments having been taken from their bank account to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , inserting 'DUPLICATE PAYMENTS REFUND REQUEST' in the subject box. Once the Council has verified your request, you will be asked to provide bank details so that a short-term payment can be made to your account in advance of the automatic refund.

If any customer has incurred bank/overdraft charges as a result of this issue, the Council will ensure that these are reimbursed. If you have incurred such charges, please send details to the council by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and inserting 'REQUEST FOR REIMBURSEMENT OF BANK CHARGES' in the subject box. Alternatively, you can inform the Council by phone on 01905 722233. You will then be provided with further information on how your payment will be processed.

Anyone needing financial advice can contact Citizens Advice, with whom the council works in partnership. Citizens Advice can be contacted on 0808 278 7891.