PARKING tickets dished out over three months at a train station will all be cancelled following a major “technical issue”.

Huge numbers of tickets have been handed out at Rayleigh Train Station, with the Echo covering serious concerns over a camera fault earlier this week.

Now, car park managers, NCP, have issued a “sincere apology” to all customers – insisting no new tickets will be handed out.

All tickets handed out between July 1 and October 13 will be cancelled or refunded.

It is believed the issue relates to cameras not picking up when cars are arriving and leaving, with people subsequently fined for dropping people off at the station.

Rayleigh resident Gemma Holden, 57, received three tickets in the post at the start of the month dating back to August.

She said: “It is is fantastic they are backing down, but why has it taken so long?

“Everyone has had to deal with the stress already just to be told, ‘oh no, don’t worry it is fine’.

“It is not good enough, and I am sure they will still make some money out of this.”

A spokesman for NCP said: “Having received an unusual number of customer queries related to penalty charge notices (PCNs) being issued at Rayleigh Station car park we have thoroughly investigated the matter to understand the underlying reasons. We have established that the issues are related to technical difficulties with our cameras.

“This matter is limited to Rayleigh Station car park and the number of incidents were isolated and infrequent.

“NCP would like to assure customers that we are taking all necessary steps to rectify the situation and, in the interim, will be suspending the issue of PCNs at this particular site.

“We are making every effort to resolve this matter in a speedy fashion.

“Customers who have been affected by this matter need take no further action as our processing team will automatically refund or cancel notices as appropriate to the individual case.”

“Any customers who have not heard from NCP within the next two weeks should contact us directly at: GaAppeals@ncp.co.uk

“Finally, on behalf of NCP I would like to offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused by this unfortunate matter.”