Suffolk residents forced to pay to park in public car parks during a rail track upgrade will not be compensated, a rail firm has said.

A Network Rail spokesperson said the company did not have a 'statutory obligation' to reimburse homeowers in Woodbridge, particularly houseboat owners on the river Deben, who had to park in 'town side' car parks while the works took place over the winter.

READ MORE: Woodbridge residents 'still waiting' for Network Rail cash

Earlier this week, the EADT reported how Woodbridge town councillor David Adelson had described the firm's failure to pay as 'not good enough' after revealing that none of the residents affected had been paid back.

He had called for them to be compensated in February and was particularly critical of the lack of provisions put in place for people to make claims, including no direct point of contact.

He also could not understand why claims were being passed to a project team to 'investigate' whether repayment was possible when it was promised before the work started.

READ MORE: Suffolk: Network Rail 'should repay' residents for closures

Crossings at Ferry Lane, Haywards, Lime Kiln, Sun Wharf, Jetty Lane and Kingston Fields were all set to be closed to enable the ageing track to be replaced.

However, rail strikes meant that some of the works had to be postponed and that the crossings at Ferry Lane and Haywards remained open when they should have been closed in December, although signs were not changed to reflect this.

The result was that some residents still parked in public car parks.

READ MORE: Woodbridge news

But a Network Rail spokesperson said: “As the owner and maintainer of the rail network, from time to time it is necessary to temporarily close level crossings to maintain our infrastructure.

"This can lead to some inconvenience for those affected, for which we apologise.

"When we need to undertake work, we try to minimise disruption caused to others by providing as much notice as possible about any planned level crossing closures. 

“We do understand that some car owners have asked for compensation for parking their vehicle in a public car park during the planned level crossing work at Woodbridge.

READ MORE: Suffolk news

"We have investigated whether this is possible through our claims process, but as there is no statutory obligation to compensate drivers that use alternative parking facilities, we will not be able to reimburse such costs that are incurred.

"We will write to the town council to explain our position on this matter.”

Cllr Adelson was unavailable for comment.