A PENSIONER has been racked with stress and anxiety after being hit with two “unfair fines” at Basildon’s Westgate Shopping Centre car park.

David Saunders, from Grays, has been hit with a £50 fine, rising to £90 if not paid within 14 days, despite having paid for parking, he claims.

Bank statements seen the Echo show the 70-year-old had paid the £1 parking cost at the ticket machine on June 6. However, on June 15 he received notice he had been fined by car park operators Group Nexus.

“This whole process has been very stressful,” he said.

“They say on their letters if we don’t pay they will send the bailiffs around and collect which has caused my wife anxiety.

“On the day we were fined we had been at Basildon Hospital for my wife, and sometimes after visiting the hospital I like to take her for lunch just to treat her.”

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He added: “We will not be returning to the Westgate car park again. They have put us through so much stress with these unfair fines.”

Mr Saunders had been hit with a similar fine after parking, and paying, for the car park on April 14.

He paid the fine initially out of fear the firm would send bailiffs to his home if he didn’t but managed to successfully appeal after showing evidence he had paid.

“The first time, my wife and I panicked so we initially paid, before realising I was in the right and fighting it.

“We didn’t think they would do it again, we just thought it was an error, so we chanced it, and the next thing I know I got another one.

“I think it’s because I was so quick to pay the fine for the first one, when actually I didn’t have to, they thought they could get me again.”

In 2018 an investigation was launched into the car park - then managed by Smart Parking - following thousands of complaints over fines being issued despite payment.

Nexus were contacted for comment by the Echo multiple times but failed to respond.