A COUPLE have hit out after being hit with a £170 parking fine by a hotel - while attending a wedding INSIDE the venue.

Scott Ure and wife Alison were slapped with the charge while at the function within the Brisbane Hotel - then had another £70 in administration charges added on for appealing the judgement.

Scott, who works as an offshore engineer, says he is appalled at the decision and called on hospitality bosses to put clearer guidance on protocols in place for guests.

The hotel says the car park is now run by a third party after it was sub-contracted to an enforcement firm and claims clear signage is in place to warn guests what needs to be done to avoid paying the penalty.

Scott says customers are being innocently caught out and has appealed to the hotel to intervene.

Scott, who lives in Brueacre Drive in Wemyss Bay, says customers are being innocently caught out and has appealed to the hotel to intervene.

He added: "We only went for a few hours - but it turned out to be a very expensive few drinks.

"We were evening guests and there was nobody on at the reception when we entered, so had no idea there was anything we had to do.

"A few days after the function, we received a notice from a firm saying we had incurred a parking charge of £100. My wife phoned the hotel and said we were guests and asked them to cancel it.

"The person was quite abrupt and said it was nothing to do with them and that my wife should take this up with the carpark management company now. My wife contacted them and was told there was no record of us on the hotel permit system but that we could appeal.

"We appealed stating that we were actually guests at a wedding, stating that we had not seen the signs or been told that we had to obtain a permit for parking. We then received a further letter from a debt collection agency saying that the management company had passed the debt to them because the appeal had been rejected and payment was now passed the due date. Also had also added a further £70 administration fee.

"They said our appeal had been rejected. If we had not been able to get a permit at the reception desk then we should have removed our car to another car park and walked back.

"Finally we received a letter from the debt collection agency's solicitors saying they were taking us to court for the non payment of the £170 debt. At this point I was going offshore and decided to pay to get it off our plate.

"The owner should be sorting this mess out and paying legitimate guests at the hotel their money back - and getting rid of the car park management company."

The change in policy had been introduced after the Brisbane sub-contracted the car park to a third party enforcement firm last year.

As well as the incident involving the Ure family, the News has been flooded with calls about similar situations over the past 12 months.

Martin Scott, group director of operations at the Brisbane House Hotel, said they had taken steps to improve awareness around the new rules.

He added: "We are aware of this situation and like the rest have done our very best to resolve it, unfortunately some were brought to our attention too late for us to assist.

"We doubled our efforts to make sure customers were aware and placed a second iPad at the door next to an eight-foot high sign asking customer to enter their car park details. We added a further 12 signs throughout the hotel and in the car park so customers were aware.

"For the vast majority of people this hasn’t been an issue. We also reminded and retrained the staff in 2019 to remind customers to enter their registration details.

"It must be reiterated that the parking is in place for the benefit of the guests, as we were experiencing a high volume of customers using the car park and not using the hotel. Frustration was growing from our wedding guests and regular visitors who couldn’t get parked, as the spaces were being taken up by either people visiting the beach, or going to another business.

"We have had over 30 complaints in the last year, that have proved to be false claims, those who parked in our car park, but later admitted they never used the hotel.

"The contract for the car park isn’t due for renewed until 2021 and we will look at this when the time comes. In the meantime we continue to remind customers about using the iPads to enter their details so we can continue to offer the great service at the hotel.

"We welcome over 50,000 guests a year to the hotel, and have a handful of complaint