aldi parking ticket

[lare73]

I am livid.
I converted to aldi as I need to save money.
I went to shipley branch west Yorkshire a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I got a parking fine for £70!!!!!!!!!
It stated I had parked for 1 hour 45 and the limit is 1 hour 30 mins.
Let me add this.........
I had with me 8 month old twins. 2 year toddler and my teenager who had major abdominal surgery 2 weeks prior.
Aldi clearly are not family friendly and discriminate against parents who take longer as they are looking after 4 children and doing a food shop. Now I have to find £70 do any money I did save shopping at aldi has been in vain! !! You tell me who can do a family food shop in 1.5 hours with babies toddlers and a invalid??????
Be warned about these time limits for parking. There were no obvious signs to informcustomers. I would not have gone there if I was aware as it can take upto 15 minutes to just unload them into pram that's before I've entered the store!
I am very very unhappy and now don't feel I can shop there anymore. Discrimination.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

I have never heard of a supermarket having wardens patrol their car parks of they aren't pay and display.

I'd check this isn't a scam first it's been known to happen

[Madcatgirl]

What the hell where you buying in Aldi that took so long? I do my weekly shop there and am in and out even with the smallest child in tow in no more than 45 minutes ever!

[Arlagirl]

We have a warden in Wait rose.
Are you sure there weren't signs?

[ShatnersBassoon]

They didn't know your circumstances. Write to the store and explain, give them a chance to put things right.

[Clarabumps]

Have a look on money saving expert about this. It's not just aldi. It happened to me at a retail park near me. There was a soft play right next to it and the car park was full so I just used the retail park. I was over the hour and I got a ticket. Upon instruction of martin lewis(not personally) I didn't pay the fine. I got a few threatening letters, then one saying they were going to charge me £200 but eventually it just disappeared. My local Sainsbury's also has this system in place. It seems to be a common thing now. A way to make money from shoppers.

[OwlCapone]

I had with me 8 month old twins. 2 year toddler and my teenager who had major abdominal surgery 2 weeks prior.

How was any parking attendant supposed to know this?

[InMySpareTime]

Aldi usually have Parking Eye car parks, with cameras recording number plates on entry and exit. Parking eye always put up big yellow signs, clearly stating how long you can park. You have no grounds to appeal the charge with parking Eye. If I were you I'd plead a case with the store manager (bring your receipt), they sometimes have discretion to cancel parking charges.
That said, 1h45 is a huge amount of time to spend in Aldi, even with DCs in tow I rarely spend over 20 minutes for weekly shop.

[OwlCapone]

Discrimination

No, it isn't. It really isn't.

Contact the branch. From memory, there have been similar MN threads where they've just waived the fine.

[MisForMumNotMaid]

martin Lewis guide and letters.

Do you still have your receipt for shopping at Aldi? If so i'd copy it and write a polite letter to the store manager along with a copy of the fine stating that you were using Aldi, the shopping took longer than usual due to the above and that you were unaware of the time restrictions.

[chockbic]

These private companies aren't enforceable. Chuck it in the bin.

[ChippyMinton]

From memory, there's a gadget where you can enter your reg plate, so the system knows you have been in the store - does anyone else know about this?

1.5hrs is feasible if you've never been before and are literally looking at everything...but the car parks are always clearly signed with the regulations.

[Grumpyoldblonde]

send them a pound coin and a letter telling them the pound should cover the extra time - check out Martin Lewis, this is an invoice not parking ticket, please do research before you pay up

[lemisscared]

Appeal then tell them to fuck off. Its an invoice not a fine.

[EhricLovesTheBhrothers]

Chill out. Go on money saving expert, download or copy the template letter to appeal and send it to parking eye with a photocopy of your receipt. They will write it off.

[Nerf]

I have four children and tend to read the signs. One is disabled if that helps. I am slightly at the number of threads where people don't seem to realise retail parks often charge. That's a huge amount of time to spend in Aldi , why not leave the teenager in the car next time?
You've had advice though, try the template letters and and appeal to the manager.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Only on mn would people he criticised for the length of time yet unspent shopping.

Who cares. Do we all have to rush around lime tornados or can someone actually take their time?
Seriously though don't just pay up because I'm. Sure this can sometimes be a scam and may have nothing to do.with aldi.

There should be signs clearly displayed

[purpleflower123]

We had this. We called the store and spoke to the manager. I'm pretty sure all we had to do was send a copy of the receipt and they waived it. Simple enough

[LakeFlyPie]

I got 'done' by Aldi's parking eye for 15 min overstay. I appealed (via Parking Eye appeal process online) and provided evidence of regular (2-3 x week) shop in that store with bank statement and fine was cancelled.
Don't despair, appeal with details of your circumstances and receipts / bank statement if possible.

[Didyouevah]

Add message | Report | Message poster purpleflower123 Tue 11-Nov-14 20:50:12

We had this. We called the store and spoke to the manager. I'm pretty sure all we had to do was send a copy of the receipt and they waived it. Simple enough smile

^ what pp said ^

[IamMummyhearmeROAR]

I got a fine last week for overstaying in a free half empty car park at a retail park where I had visited almost every store and had lunch.I refuse to say I was in the wrong as really and truly what wrong have I committed? I won't be paying and I won't be entering into any dialogue. In Scotland they will struggle to get anything from me to recoup their 'losses' and I will shop elsewhere

[specialsubject]

I also know someone who spent too long in Aldi (although how?) and got the invoice waived. Write and ask. They don't know your circumstances.

there are huge yellow signs though.

[elephantspoo]

These are totally unenforceable under the law, dispute any propaganda these companies put out. I picked one up in a Tesco car park and binned it.

The only substantive actual occurrence is that you entered into a contract (knowingly or unknowingly) to park under certain conditions. You breached that contract. No company is entitled under UK to claim punitive damages for a breach of contract, and as the parking is free, they can not demonstrate definite loss of revenue as a result of you overstaying your welcome.

I personally would never enter into any correspondence or telephone conversations with these companies. But if you must, I would suggest you always, I mean always, refer to the incident as 'this alleged breach of contract', 'this allegation that I have breached a contract between us'. Quite clearly define this as a breach of contract that is dealt with under contract law.

Just my 2c. I bin these types of things.

[isittheweekendyet]

These fines are not legally enforceable. Bin the letter. They'll send more. Bin them. They'll send a scary letter. Bin that. You'll not hear from them again. Don't acknowledge the letters, just ignore.

[Downtheroadfirstonleft]

Look up " parking eye" on money saving expert. You will NOT have to pay this. It is not enforceable.

The easiest thing to do is contact Aldi customer services on facebook, state that you bought from the store and they will look into it and get it cancelled.

Even if you don't, parking eye will not be able to enforce this.