To complain about supermarket parking fine of £70 for overstaying 2 hour period

[OhNoNotMyBaby]

I overstayed by 25 minutes. I get that. Hands up, I just forgot the time.

BUT, of that 2 hours 25 minutes I was parked, 1 hour and 10 minutes (approx) was spent in the store, spending in excess of £84.

I feel there should be an exemption for customers, or say, an extra hour - though I'm not sure how the store would manage that. They always used to have a tannoy system "Would the owner of car reg...."

I'm really fucked off at being presented with a £70 charge for the privilege of parking in their car park whilst I spend money in their shop (and have done for decades).

But I did overstay (because I did pop into town for an hour). AIBU?

[millymae]

You can try appealing to the supermarket but If you get nowhere with them don't ignore it - .those that say you don't have to pay are wrong. Take it from someone who is still being harassed about a PCN that was issued in 2012! If yours has come from someone like Parking Eye or Excel you could end up being taken to Court.

I can sympathise with those that share your view that the supermarket should ask for the PCN to be cancelled in view of the amount you spent, but equally if everyone who spent that amount ( which on today's prices isn't really a great deal) thought it OK to park for longer than they should there wouldn't be enough spaces available for everyone who wanted to shop there.
In my view two hours free parking isnt an unreasonable amount of time to do your shopping in. In your case you took the decision to pop into town - It wasn't as though you went over the time limit because you were stuck in a queue at the till.

[Crankycunt]

If you had spent the whole time in store then you'd have a point.

However you left the store, left the car park and fucked off into town, this is where you are unreasonable.

If you want to go into town then go park in town, it's not up sainsburys to subsidise you and your car parking fees.

The sense of entitlement is strong with this one.

[Gutted2016]

I think YABU because you went in to town. Our local Tesco has a huge m&s, giraffe and Next on the same site. One car park. It's actually really difficult to get lunch and feed both the babies in the m&s cafe or Giraffe (as I usually do on shopping day as a treat), have a good look round Next and then do the food shop in the 3 allotted hours. They have a soft play on site too so you could easily spend all day there and still be spending money so I do think these charges are ridulous in those cases. But yours is different - you went offsite.

[DarkDarkNight]

Somebody has already said this but go to Customer Services with your receipt and they will cancel it. The hire the parking firms but it's not in their interest to fine genuine customers and they are able to cancel them. The manager of my local supermarket cancelled two for my mum, one when she had a really long wait in the cafe.

[jayisforjessica]

OP's last message sounds an awful lot like flouncing to me.

Face it, OP - you knew the rules, you broke them, the store is enforcing their clearly posted consequences upon you, and you're upset that they don't see you as the exception to the rules that you think you are.

I spend thousands each year = they should give me free parking.
Do you think you're the only one who spends thousands there each year? Do you think you're special? I'll guarantee you they can find a hundred customers who also spend thousands of dollars a year and don't flout their parking rules, taking up a park an actual paying customer could use while swanning about in town window shopping.

I've can't even remember the last time I heard anything so self righteous and self indulgent. Pay the fine, OP. As for boycotting the store, talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. They won't miss you.

[ComputerUserNotTrained]

One of the draws of a town centre supermarket is that having tolerated the congestion to get there and with it generally having less stock (an out of town store will often take an equal time to reach and will have a greater range of stuff from which to choose) is that you get to nip to other shops within the allocated time.

Yes you overstayed, but the fine is disproportionate.

Drop them a polite line.

[MLGs]

I don't know. We had one from Lidl because exH waited in the car with DS while he was asleep before going into the store, and ended up overseeing.

He wrote to them "appealing" this, and they dropped it.

However, it's not a fine. They are saying you breached a contract with them - the contract being you could only park for X amount of time and then would have to pay £Y. Whether they will try taking you to court, or passing it on to a collection agency, or whatever, is anyone's guess. They might, and it might be alot more trouble than it's worth.

But it isn't a fine like a council parking ticket.

[MLGs]

Overstaying, not overseeing.

[Brokenbiscuit]

I'm surprised at the harsh responses, OP. Obviously, ywbu to overstay the time limit when you weren't in the store for the whole two hours, but a £70 fine for 25 minutes extra is massively disproportionate, especially as you had also spent over £80 in their shop! I would definitely try speaking to the store manager about whether they can cancel it.

As for nipping into town before doing the supermarket shopping, isn't that what everyone does in these car parks? Can't see why anyone with a car would bother going to the town centre supermarkets otherwise, as the out of town stores are so much better!

I think our local Tesco has a much better approach - they offer 2 hours of free parking for customers (you have to get your ticket validated in the shop to prove that you have spent the minimum amount) then they charge by the hour for anything over and above that time. I'm much more likely to shop there, as a result, rather than in the Sainsbury's which requires no proof of having been a customer but has a strict 2 hour limit on all stays.

[Blu]

"If you want to go into town then go park in town, it's not up sainsburys to subsidise you and your car parking fees. "

Actually it is often a condition of planning consent that big supermarkets provide parking that benefits a wider local selection of businesses.

[jayisforjessica]

Just because everyone does it, doesn't mean it's okay. They're human too, and can't catch everyone. That doesn't mean the people who ARE caught deserve to weasel out of it on the basis that "everyone does it". OP took her chances, and this time happened to be caught! Just suck it up and pay it and count as a lesson for last time!

Honestly, the reason fines and parking and things like this get so austere is because of the entitled few using it like a personal parking garage for the day. Rules are rules!

[jayisforjessica]

next** time. My music is in Spanish and is apparently impeding my ability to type in English.

[graphista]

By your own admittance you've cost them potentially at least £30 in unsought groceries, then there's the costs of maintaining the car park, administering the fee, then they'll be dealing with your complaint... £70 sounds pretty cheap!

[AnnaT45]

I think YABU. People do this where I live and it means there is often no where to park to do food shopping. I see a lot of mums put kids in the pram and go off to groups at the library, even though there is other parking it's just not as convenient.

The supermarket has obviously changed the time limited for a reason!

[manhowdy]

While I wouldn't purposely not pay for parking, if I overran my time in a privately owned car park I wouldn't pay the fine. I'd ignore any letters from them and their solicitors too. Having done this on several occasions I have never been taken to court.

The only carparking fines I would pay and promptly are those issued by the council.

[enolagayits0815]

They are now legally enforceable. The law changed a few years ago.

[Brokenbiscuit]

Just because everyone does it, doesn't mean it's okay.

No, but if supermarkets don't want non-customers to park in their car parks, they should a) state this clearly on their signage and b) require car park users to present some proof of purchase.

In the town where I used to live, there was a budgens, which had a clear sign in its car park, stating that parking was for customers only. I would respect that, but there is no such sign at my local Sainsbury's, so I would assume that it's OK to park there for any purpose, as long as I stay within the time limit.

[Isitadoubleentendre]

I got recently stung in a retail park near my parents. Its technically 2 retail parks but you can walk between the two and the are some massive shops and restaurants there. Its not near any town, you wouldn't be able to walk to anywhere else from there. Over the years I have spent probably thousands of pounds there overall, but I hadn't been there for a long time. Anyway they introduced a new 3 hour limit in one of the parks which i completely missed the signs for, as it had always been free, and I got a fine for staying 3 hours 20! Absolute bastards!

I wrote a begging shitty letter detailing all of the above and how id really appreciate it if they didn't make me pay I wouldn't be paying the fine. They let me off.

Sorry, that was long and not really relevant to this thread, but I feel better now

[OhTheRoses]

Why don't you park in town, pay the £2.50 and then go to Sainsburys?

[ZaZathecat]

I think as they recently reduced the parking time from 3 to 2 hours they may well let you off. I also don't think you were committing the crime of the century shopping elsewhere while parked at the supermarket. Our local Tesco allows 3 hours and half the small high street shops would probably have closed down by now if people couldn't pop along there while parked in Tesco. I believe Tesco and the local council came to an agreement that when they moved in, in order to revive the town.

[manhowdy]

They are now legally enforceable. The law changed a few years ago.

They are not fines so are not legally enforceable in the way you suggest. They are an invoice for breach of contract. Nothing about this has changed from what I can see. They could take you to small claims, but they probably won't.

DEFINITELY DEFINITELY never write to a private firm about a parking ticket, therefore giving them your name and address. Let them pursue you first. That way you can see if they operate within the relevant trade bodies and can access DVLA info.

Best guide is here: www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/private-parking-tickets

I have ignored fines and solicitors threats from parking firms who can access DVLA info and never been taken to court. Not saying everyone will get the same result, maybe I've just been lucky.

And again, never ignore a ticket issued by the local authority.

[ItGoesWithoutSaying]

It appears that a November 2015 Supreme Court Ruling changes the law, read in great detail about it here. They can now be enforced if they are not "extravagant or unconscionable".

In your case I would guess they would agree to waive the charge (or accept a reduced amount) as £70 for 25 minutes parking (when the free period has just changed) could be argued as excessive so they probably wouldn't want to go to court to get it as they may lose.

Let us know how you get on.

[MistresssIggi]

Bly that's very interesting about the planning permission, I wonder how you would know which shops that applies to.
A Lidl has opened near me at places signs up saying parking for Lidl customers only. All good, except Lidl is side by side with two other largish shops that have no separate parking - do they want to put them out of business? Anything discouraging trade seems a bad idea to me.

[OhNoNotMyBaby]

Thanks for all the posts folks - though not those bordering on abuse, like this one: I've can't even remember the last time I heard anything so self righteous and self indulgent. I really don't deserve comments like those.

I said upfront that I know I broke the rules - and I know I should pay. My point is that I spend £££££££ in the shop every sodding week and I don't think it's U to do some additional shopping on the side, when that is has been common practice for around 25+ years, until a couple of months ago.

I will have a look at the Martin Lewis site - I hadn't thought of that.

The notice is from euro car parks and is parking charge notice.

I'll let you know if I get a response from the store. I dropped a letter in yesterday.

[OhNoNotMyBaby]

Talk about rubbing my face in it! Bloody contextual advertising here on MN meant no sooner had I posted the above than my mouse hovered over the effing Sainsbury's ad in the side panel and my whole screen got taken over with an enormous, Sainsbury's ad!

NOT FUNNY MUMSNET