A couple are furious after being charged double for parking at a hospital - believing many of the machines have not been updated to British Summer Time.

Susan Smith took her husband Dave to a diabetes check-up this morning at Maidstone Hospital, expecting to pay £2 for her stay.

But when they returned to the car, she was shocked to find the machine demanding £4.

Mrs Smith said: "We could see other people looking at their tickets confused about why they were being charged more.

"Some people do not complain but someone has got to so we thought we would."

The retired pair from Wouldham believe the surcharge was due to some machines not having been updated to British Summer Time after the clocks changed on Sunday.

Arriving just before 8am this morning, the couple returned to their car at around 9.30am. However, the parking system clocked their stay as being from 6.58am - so they were charged for an extra hour.

This suggests the first machine the couple used had not yet been updated to BST and the second had.

Mrs Smith, 66, added: "We do not like having to go to hospital at the best of times, but especially not when we are overcharged for parking.

"Some people can hardly afford the parking as it is."

They spoke to the Hermitage Lane hospital security and were told no refund could be given by the hospital as the ticket had already been paid for.

When contacted, APCOA Parking Limited, who is responsible for the machines, began looking into the problem.

Maidstone Hospital said the issue has now been resolved.

A spokesman said: "Due to a technical issue with our parking machines at Maidstone Hospital, a very small number of visitors who entered our car park early this morning were unfortunately charged an extra hour for their stay. The fault has now been fixed.

"We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused."

Applications for refunds must be done via email. Please send them to csc.refunds@apcoa.com

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