A HAMBLE man has shared his experience at a busy Southampton toll bridge where he was almost charged £25 for crossing due to a "fault" in the system.

Pawel Malinowski 40, a technician, travels across the Itchen Bridge twice a day.

While making his way across the bridge, Pawel noticed that his car was being hugely overcharged.

While driving his C4 Citroen, which should cost just 70p, he was charged a range of prices from £1.40 to £25.

Pawel has shared the video on YouTube as he is concerned that other motorists may be overcharged without realising due to the contactless system.

He said: "I have being overcharged.

"I was travelling in Citroen hatchback, so it was ridiculous to see random numbers at the display, but I know some people don't check what's to pay and those using bank cards will have to claim money back as most people have that amount available so they get charged.

"I use a resident card and rarely have more than £10 on it.

"There were situations where none of the cards would work as their system hanged and I had to call for help and they rebooted the terminal remotely."

A spokesperson for Southampton City Council said: “Vehicle misclassification will sometimes occur as vehicles pass through the lanes.

"This can be as a result of ladders or roof racks, as vehicles are classified by height, or where a vehicle has reversed out of the lane. In these cases, that vehicle’s classification remains in the lane until it is reset.

“In most cases, Toll Coordinators will spot any issues and reset the lane accordingly but there may be busy periods when they will be dealing with a customer on another lane.

“The card readers at the lower level, which are used by all non-HGV vehicles, have been set to not accept £25 payment and therefore were a vehicle to be classified as £25, the driver would not be able to make payment via card on the lower card readers.

"The driver should then press the help button and the Toll Coordinator will reclassify the vehicle accordingly, if they haven’t already done so.

“In the unlikely event that a customer is overcharged, they can contact the Toll Plaza team who will arrange for a refund.”