RIPPED off motorists have been fighting back against the car parking firm APCOA at Chippenham railway station.

Tim Rombach was fined £100 by the company when they said their cameras showed his car entering the carpark and leaving much later on without paying. He disputed this saying his partner rang to say the train was late so he did a circuit of the car park and drove off until called back later.

Despite this APCOA fined him citing their cameras as evidence. Mr Rombach appealed but had this turned down by the trade body that overlooks the industry.

He said: "I've heard nothing from APCOA. A comment in the Gazette article made me check my Google maps timeline history and it does appear to show me going out to B&M and back.

"Armed with this I sent a recorded delivery letter to APCOA requesting they take me to a small claims court for a judge to decide if I must pay."

When callenged by the Gazette APCOA who lease the carpark from GWR said they would look at each case.

Another victim who has objected to the fine is Emily Ward. The Gazette challenged APCOA over her fine which was received when she picked up family members from the station. Now she has been told that she doesn't have to pay.

Victim number three Denise Blackmore received a fine last November when she dropped off her son at the station. She said: "I was so shocked when I received this and was shaking whilst I read it.

"I just couldn’t understand how a photo of my car entering and leaving the car park could possibly be an offence.

"I checked the time and date and realised that I was actually dropping my son off at the station."

Denise appealed as the car park has a grace period of 20 minutes which covers people picking up and dropping off but has not heard back from the company.

She said the whole affair was very stressful and feels the potential fine is still "hanging over her."

The other aspect which other motorists found was it was impossible to speak to anyone at APCOA or to challenge the appeals process as you can in a normal court.

An APCOA spokesperson said:“We are currently looking into a number of individual cases raised at Chippenham Railway Station.

“APCOA aims to deliver high quality parking to the public and is a British Parking Association approved operator."