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?

[StealthPolarBear]

I've had a thread on this, I don't actually think it's coincidence, thibk keywords help to tailor your ads.
your next one will be for legal firms specialising in parking claims :)

[OhNoNotMyBaby]

thanks stealth - I know it's not coincidence . I'm in marketing. It's just rude under the circumstances ..

Where is your thread pls? I'm in a ranty mood - as you can tell.

[StealthPolarBear]

It was a little while ago when I had been cleaning the oven and then came back on to immediately find local oven cleaner ads

[jayisforjessica]

I mean you come to a site asking for our opinions and then don't like our opinions? I think that's a bit U too. You pays your money and takes your chances, metaphorically speaking, when you post in AIBU!

[OhNoNotMyBaby]

Jay I haven't said I don't like your opinions. I've said I don't like abuse.

[DownWithThisSortaThing]

Sorry OP but you are being a bit entitled with your attitude that the rules shouldn't apply to you. You were U to leave the car in their car park to go into town and then be late back. If you were back in time you probably wouldn't have got caught but you were late. Your fault.
It's a fixed fine so if you were 2 hours late or 2 minutes late it would have been the same fine.

By all means try to get the fine waived, but if they wont, you don't have anyone to blame but yourself.
You weren't held up in the supermarket by queues or a busy cafe - you weren't even there for the whole two hours. You should have moved your car to a different car park.

[user1476983585]

It happened to me in the past in Morrisons car park, I overstayed for over 30 min. (while I was doing other shopping)
I have complained to the store manager as being a regular customer spending great amount every week in the store with receipts to prove(although he never asked)he kindly took my reg .plate and voided the charge.You should try doing the same ,good luck

[whatsthecomingoverthehill]

People do like getting on their moral high horses don't they. And this isn't even really a moral issue. No 'Rules' have been broken. It's a potential breach of contract that's all. And no, the law around this hasn't changed. Beavis vs Parking Eye gave some clarity to whether such civil claims were enforceable under contract law, but it was clear that it applied only to those particular circumstances. (Though it does seem some magistrates are now using it to automatically assume the motorist should pay). And these parking companies are descended from the clampers of the past and are twats, so I'm generally happy if they lose out.

Yes, I know that businesses do need some way of keeping parking for their customers, but the way these contracts are set up it's all about the parking companies catching as many people out as possible because they typically only make money from the fees they charge. The whole set up relies on people falling foul of the contract terms, yet that is supposedly what they are trying to prevent. Doesn't really make sense does it?

I completely get why the OP would be miffed in this situation, and of course it is give and take. In my work we have clients we bend over backwards for, because we get lots of work from them, and this is no different. It would be very shortsighted of the supermarket to not clear the claim in such circumstances.

[Chocolatecakefan]

My dad had one of these years ago, he popped into Asda at 7am on his way to work to get some food for breakfast, then when he was on the way home at the end of day my mum had asked him to pick up some milk so he went back to the same store as it was on the way back.

A week later, he had a letter charging him as he had been there 12 hours (!) somehow they had clocked him going in at 7 am (but not out), and then they somehow missed him returning at 6.30pm but only clocked him leaving, so they tried to fine him!

I think he explained the situation and it was all resolved but it can't be that uncommon for commuters to pop in on the way to work and then again on the way home!!!

[ZaZathecat]

Actually it is often a condition of planning consent that big supermarkets provide parking that benefits a wider local selection of businesses.
Exactly what I was trying to say upthread Blu, totally agree.

[flamingoshoes]

Join the facebook group called fight your private parking invoice. There are some excellent people with lots of knowledge on what you can do. Whatever you do, do not ignore letters this is not the current advice. They helped me recently with a ticket due to different circumstances.

[ZuleikaDobson]

The whole set up relies on people falling foul of the contract terms, yet that is supposedly what they are trying to prevent. Doesn't really make sense does it?

Yes, it does. The fact is that the vast majority of us don't fall foul of the contract terms, but enough people do to make it worth while employing the parking company. On the other hand, if they didn't bother to enforce parking restrictions, they would very quickly go out of business as none of their customers would be able to park there.

[FlabulousChic]

Was you really in the supermarket over two hours

[ZuleikaDobson]

The answer to your question is in the original post, Flabulous.

[kali110]

Although parking charge are not enforcable like a penalty notice, with a slight law change a few years ago These companies can now take you to court ( some have done and won, mainly the europarks company).
If you want to try to get out of it you need to appeal it.
Don't pay, but all advice is not too ignore it.
Martin lewis, popla for tips.

[kali110]

richardwhy wouldn't the op's carpark not be full? I can think of two supermarkets by my old home that were always full whenever we went

[whatsthecomingoverthehill]

Zuleika, I understand how it works. But relying on people doing the very thing you're wanting to prevent to fund said prevention seems wrong headed to me. And it means that the car parking company are only interested in trying to catch people out with no discretion or consideration involved (have I mentioned that these companies are all twats?)