Council chiefs in Dundee are investigating why some parking payments appear to have been credited to Durham County Council.
Several Royal Bank of Scotland customers have reported seeing Durham County Council on their bank statements after paying for parking in Dundee car parks.
Payments have appeared that way as far back as January – with some of those affected initially fearing a third party had accessed their card details.
It is unclear whether any of the money has actually made its way to north-east England, rather than Dundee, with council chiefs south of the border “unaware” of the issue.
One RBS customer said: “I was checking over my bank statement and was a bit stunned when I saw I’d apparently been charged by Durham County Council.
“I’ve never been there before.
“It was a bit of a worry because I thought someone had maybe taken my card or used my details.
“However, upon further inspection, it does show ‘Dundee City Council’ when I highlighted the transaction. It seems a very odd thing to have happened.”
Another RBS customer, who also had Durham County Council credited on her bank statement after parking in Dundee, labelled it “bizarre”.
She said: “I hadn’t noticed that the payment said Durham at first as the amount was right.
“I park in Bell Street quite often as well – it must have been going on for months.
“It’s really bizarre – how does that happen?”
When approached by The Courier, a spokesperson for Dundee City Council said: “We are looking into this.”
Durham council ‘not aware’ of charges
Dave Lewin, Durham County Council’s strategic traffic manager, said: “We were not aware of this matter but would be happy to assist Dundee City Council colleagues should they be looking into it.
“We do not know of any money paid to us as a result of people parking in Dundee but we would need more information before we could investigate fully.
“Should it be found that money has been given to us in error, we would be more than happy to reimburse any payments.”
The NatWest Group, which runs RBS, has been contacted for comment.
Dundee and Durham – 200 miles of a difference
They may share the first two letters of their name, but Dundee and Durham are miles apart – 200 miles to be exact.
POPULATION
Dundee – 149,680
Durham – 23,175 (city), 522,100 (county)
LANDMARKS
Dundee – RRS Discovery, V&A
Durham – Durham Cathedral, Durham Castle
AVERAGE HOUSE PRICE (according to Rightmove)
Dundee – £177,040
Durham – £189,167
COUNCIL POLITICS
Dundee – SNP majority administration
Durham – Conservatives, Lib Dems and independents coalition administration
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