Parking fine - how do we prove we didn’t leave car overnight?

[Paintedocean]

We’ve received notification of a fine for leaving the car in a Tesco car park overnight. What actually happened is my husband visited on Sunday afternoon and then again early on Monday morning - so they’ve paired the first arrival with the second exit, which apparently is a known issue with ANPR systems.

Anyone successfully challenged a similar situation?

Does your car have inbuilt satnav? It may show journey history if so. (My new-ish Nissan comes with Google maps pre-installed which is very handy for journeys, but also means Google tracks wherever I drive...)

He must’ve left again on Monday, go back and get them to check the times he went in/out on each journey.

Do you have a Ring doorbell which shows your car at home on Sunday night?

Good shout re sat nav.
Other ideas might be ring doorbell footage your car back home. Or do you have location your phone? Can you screen shot your movements on that day?

I had this in sainsburys when dh went in the morningwhen taking dc to school and i went in the evening. I disputed it with a) one photo of the driver going in is clearly a man with a beard, the other leaving is a non-beared woman, and b) if they checked the camera footage properly they would see the car leaving after ten minutes and then arriving (and leaving) again several hours later. They agreed I didn't have to pay as it was clearly an error.

Thanks for the ideas. We don’t have a ring doorbell. I’ll have to check about how the Sat Nav works. Presumably if we can get them to check they will find the records of the other exit / entrance but I’m not sure how likely it is they will check.

I have successfully challenged similar. I didn't provide proof, I just explained that I made two separate trips in (which they could check on their cameras) and that I wouldn't need to park in their car park overnight as I don't tend to sleep in my car.

Can you show purchases made on 2 separate visits on your banking app? Doesn't prove you weren't sleeping in the car but makes you a valid 2 shopping visit customer

Have you been into the store and spoken to them about this?
Accessing our local store from different entrances/exits seems to cause the same issue, in that the system seemingly can't pair them up. When people explain the problem to customer services they seem to get the ticket cancelled.

We challenged something similar but it was a van with a tracker.

I had this at our local station. I asked for CCTV footage for 15 minutes either side of the two visits they had decided meant I had parked there all day. They must have checked and found the other visit as they backed down within minutes of my email.

If you know the approximate time you left on the first visit ask them for CCTV for that time period and half an hour either side.

Hi @Paintedocean , was the penalty from Horizon? If so, I challenged a fine from them earlier this month (no evidence, just provided an explanation), similar type of scenario.
I had this response from them last week...

Horizon invests in both the technology and infrastructure required to manage parking facilities on behalf of its clients. As with any technology, errors can unfortunately occur. Whilst errors are mercifully rare, there are a number of possible reasons why a vehicle registration may be either missed or unreadable by an ANPR camera. These can range from another vehicle driving too closely to the photographed vehicle during busy periods, through to a number plate that is obscured due to poor weather conditions or dirt. It is apparent that a capture of your vehicle has been missed on this occasion. When problems are highlighted to us, such as in this scenario, we are able to investigate and apply remedy.

Hopefully they'll see sense in your case too :)

My mum had this. We challenged it and told them to re-check their cameras, and they wrote back to confirm it was an error and the fine was dropped.

Wouldn't necessarily prove about the car itself but if you have Google maps on your phone, provided you haven't disabled it, you can check your timeline and it should show being at Tesco Sunday night, being home then being back Monday morning. Assuming iPhones have a similar feature.

That’s what we did when we dropped daughter off at station on a Friday and again on Saturday afternoon and the camera thought we’d parked at station all that time without a ticket. They accepted it no problem

Yes this is what you need to do. You don’t need to prove you didn’t stay overnight, the onus is on them to prove that you did.

Also OP don’t legitimise this by calling it a fine. It isn’t. Only government bodies have the power to issue fines. What you have received is a speculative invoice.

Totally agree about not calling it a fine too.

This happened to us. We just challenged the notice explaining what happened and never heard another peep.
didn’t prove any proof as there wasn’t any. Equally they don’t have proof you did stay

This is brilliant - thanks so much everyone. We’ll challenge Horizon and hopefully they’ll see sense.

If you used the car park you would have been using the shop - 2 transactions?

Tbh you should just be able to tell them to double check - I know someone this happened to and they just informed them that they left around a certain time and came back next day, it was all sorted. He didn’t have to prove anything because it’s on their cameras.

You are asking the wrong question.

The real question is how are they intending to prove that the car was there for the period they are claiming ? No on has yet invented a flawless ANPR system and you can win money betting that these cowboys skimped.

Google "ANPR double dipping" and see where it takes you. Don't be afraid to get these "AI" tools that are all the rage to do the grunt work.

Good luck.

Would you not have parked in a different space at the second visit and shown up on a different camera at a different time.

Please come back and let us know the outcome.

You just say you didn’t park overnight. The onus is on them to prove that you were.

lots of car park companies try it on. I recently got a PCN from ncp, I hadn’t paid on exit….because I had prepaid for the bloody space. Apparently their system doesn’t cross check. An email sorted it out but I didn’t get an apology and I’ll still annoyed about it.