parking ticket from a supermarket?

Question

I parked at aldi a few weeks ago and did some shopping there. I just got a letter saying that I was only allowed to parked for an hour and a half and as I was 12 minutes over i have to pay £70.00. Is that a bit steep? my question is can I appeal to this and would I have a leg to stand on ? my car was on cctv. Any ideas who I could call for advice.

thanks in advance

Answer 1

Unless they have proof of who was driving, you don't have to pay. All you say is I cannot recall who drove to the shops.

This is contract law - they have to prove who was driving. Its not like local authority where the owner of the vehicle has to tell them who was driving. DONT PAY - unless you have already identified yourself as the owner - even then they are only allowed to charge a reasonable amount.

Answer 2

I also parked at an Aldi in south London and got a £70 parking ticket. Parking Eye tickets are not enforceable AT ALL! I too was worried until I looked on the internet and found out that this private company have no power. They write to your house a couple of times but if you don't acknowledge or reply the letters stop coming and they go away. But if you've already contacted them, then they've 'baited' you and they'll threaten you with County Court, in which case you'll need to pay to get rid of them. Good luck!

Answer 3

I would thank the supermarket very much, and I would tell them That this is is reason I'm not shopping there anymore, that would work in the us, as the market would pay the ticket. I guess your in the UK.

They should use meters that way everyone get screwed a little.

I would arrange a park in as you get every one you know to tell everyone they know to park there for an hour and fill you cart leave you cart and buy a candy bar, then leave. Do this at all the Aldi markets for a few weeks and see what happens.

Answer 4

Dump the letter in the bin, private parking monitoring companies have no legal right to claim money of you and never shop at Aldi again. 7 pence is too steep for those parasites. They should have issued the ticket there and then or clamped your car. Its a bit lame of them to try and give you a fine a few weeks later. Everybody thinks aldi and their sister company lidl are a bargain, they are anything but. They build everywhere throwing up hastily built supermarkets, get their stock from Eastern Europe and Germany so you don't know what your buying and hire only immigrants who can't understand the locals. My local Lidl which i refuse to shop at since my first excursion there hired only Pakistani's and Indians no locals at all. If they sent me a fine through the post i'd wipe my ars'e on it and post it back

Answer 5

Uk answer: Read the articles on the Pepipoo forum.



This is a PRIVATE parking firm and their charges are effectively penalty charges which are illegal under contract law. What they have effectively sent you is an invoice. Private parking companies will send letter after letter to try to get you to pay but the simple fact is that they have not successfully won ANY defended case in court and as a result they are extremely unlikely to proceed that far.



The advice on the Pepipoo forum is not to enter into their "appeals" process. Not to deal with them by phone and there are a number of standard letters they make available should you need to.



Do speak to your Aldi store manager and register your dissatisfaction with their parking arrangements - 30 minutes is not long enough for a family shop.

Answer 6

Now don't be too hasty here. I'd be inclined to pop over to usenet and have a look through the Google archives on alt.legal for similar situations.



1 - what does the letter actually say? If it mentions fines or penalties then only a statutory body can levy a fine or penalty (police, council, government bodies etc)



2 - were you the driver and registered keeper of the car? If you were not the driver but registered keeper the registered keeper would receive the letter simply write back stating you were not the driver. The RK has no legal obligation to snitch on the driver.



3 - they can only claim actual damages, it's up to them to show their actual losses



4 - the exact wording on the sign is important, see above for penalty charges



It's too complex to go into here, so pop over to uk.legal and ask there. It's not as open and shut as some people here think.



ETA



sorry, not alt.legal I meant uk.legal Doh!

Answer 7

Lidl tried this as well. My arguement was that i was doing a leisurely shop, and upon going to the checkout only 50% of the tills were open, so the store was equally liable for any alleged delay. Lidl waived the fee - damn right, i'd just parted with £130 in shopping. By the way, you might have committed a civil offence, but not a criminal one. It's up to Aldi to pursue it in court. Don't worry, just throw the ticket in the bin, you weren't driving the car at the time, were you?

Answer 8

Sorry I can't advise you on this but I just wanted to say that I think this is absolutely disgusting and personally I would never shop there again - there has to be a more customer friendly way of controlling the car park! I hope you manage to have the fine cancelled.

Answer 9

This is a company called " Parking Eye". They use a number plate recognition systen to capture your car details and trace you home address.



If you were genuinely in the shop for that time, then go and see the manager of the shop. Explain to him the fine and that his actions in dealing with the matter (ie. tearing up the fine or not) will affect your future choice of supermarket. I would reckon it depends on the time given on your till receipt (if Aldi do have time and date stamped receipts).



If he fails to budge, don't shop there again or phone or write a letter to head office and explain. I don't see why they shouldn't take back the fine and have a word with the company.



This method of parking seems completely mad and allows for no movement. I don't see why there isn't a £2 charge for 2 hours, refundable at the shop when you go to the checkout.



Have a look at this site for moterists, it should give you some advice:

http://www.pepipoo.com/



EDIT: Oh, and if you want to write directly to the parking company to appeal, here is the address:To appeal against your Parking Charge, write to ParkingEye at PO Box 565, Chorley, PR6 6HT, giving your reason for the appeal and enclosing any supporting information you may have, ie a receipt to prove expenditure at the location, a P&D ticket, etc.

Answer 10

You could speak to Citizens Advice, however if the car park has signs clearly in view stating that the limit is 1 hour 30 and you were there more than that there is not a lot you can do. However still speak to CAB they may be able to set up an agreement were you pay so much per month

Answer 11

Yes you will probably have to pay .. I presume there were warning signs around the car park .... The supermarkets, not the big ones. do charge to deter people from parking in their park and then go off shopping elsewhere ,, or to deter commuters etc , Personally I go to Tesco, which is free , as opposed to Asda where there is a charge .. You can speak to store manager or Aldi HO .. but they will say the parking is controlled by a contracted company and they have no say in who is charged .. The parking co. will not listen to any appeals whatsoever,, They just want their money ..

Answer 12

Speak to the manager at the Aldi shop.

This is a civil matter and if you do not pay they will have to take you to county court to get the money. They at best could get a CCJ for the money and costs but they then have no way to enforce that if you decide not to pay. If required write to them and say that you know this and they will most likely drop it.

Answer 13

IF you know they have a picture of you (not just your car) then you don't have a lot of chance but if they do not have you on camera then you can pretty safely ignore the tickets.





See http://www.pepipoo.com or this lot http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

Answer 14

You could only appeal if you can prove you were there for less time, or if they didn't have any signs saying how long you could stay for. You could always call a lawyer, but I don't think it would be worth the effort unless you can prove they are in the wrong. Otherwise, just pay up.

Answer 15

A lawyer for advice, but they do have big notices warning you about parking there while you shop elsewhere, it never takes an hour and a half to shop there, the shops just aren't big enough.

Answer 16

LOTS OF SUPERMARKETS ARE DOING THIS NOW , AND YES YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY