A motorist who has spent eight months trying to get a refund after his money got jammed in a pay machine has accused Brent Council of being two-faced.

Hitesh Pabari paid £1.50 to park his car in Ealing Road, Wembley, in January but the cash got jammed in the machine and to date he claims it has not been refunded.

The 45-year-old businessman, who lives in Harrow, claims he was told by customer service staff to find another machine to pay into or risk incurring a fine.

He said: “I asked the parking services if they could take my registration number so they know I paid the money but the man said no, I had to find another machine and pay again.

“I know it’s only £1.50 but it’s the principle. They should have dealt with it by now. “I’ve been going from department to department since January. I can’t keep giving out my bank details, they should have it on their system but instead they just put up obstacles.

“How many people don’t have time to go through all that?”

He added: “When people get a penalty charge notice they have to pay straight away or they incur interest and if they still don’t pay the bailiffs will come and clamp their car, it can end in court action. The council are two-faced.”

A council spokeswoman said: “We understand how frustrating it is when a machine jams. As soon as a machine is reported out of order, we immediately cover it and schedule it for repair. We also seek to make refunds as quickly as possible. “Where the refund is of relatively small value we are unable to issue a cheque, so we need the motorist’s bank details to transfer the refund directly. Unfortunately, as Mr Parbari has refused to provide his bank details, we have not yet been able to transfer to him the agreed refund.

“We work with residents to provide refunds as swiftly and fairly as possible. With the exception of Mr Parbari, we have no record of any other unpaid refunds outstanding.”