Should my parents pay this supermarket car park fine?

[Afternooninthepark]

My parents always shop in our local Lidl supermarket.
My dad has just received a car park fine stating they were 15 minutes over the allotted 90 minutes. TBH, they were totally unaware it was 90 minutes and assumed it was 3 hours like many of our local supermarkets.
My dad says he will pay the fine as he doesn’t want any hassle but I don’t think he should because of several things :-
A) They spend over £80 in that supermarket (and have the receipt) and regularly shop in that store.
B) They are both in their late 70’s and quite slow (mainly because of mum, see below)
C) Mum has Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis and a disability parking permit

Dad is panicking and says he wants to pay it but I think that would be wrong as they spent money in the store and didn’t wander off and leave their car in the car park to do other things, why should they have to pay a fine after genuinely spending money in the store?
AIBU thinking they should challenge this?

Some people are so rude and some so funny (@Lidl 😂).. i’m under 40 and disabled, believe it or not, I take a good two hours to shop and pack in Lidl. It’s hard going when you struggle to pick things up/ push a trolley etc.. but you know, us slow people like our independence and quite rightly bloody deserve it too! Good luck op

I work in the private sector for car park tickets, appeal it, if appeal is rejected appeal to POPLA.

I wouldn't challenge it as the fine is the fine

Er... no, it’s not a fine because they have not received a penalty charge notice. It’s just a private parking charge.

You should ask Lidl to cancel the charge as pps have advised.

Whole lot of arseholes on this thread op. Your parents aren't wriggling out of a fair fine! The fine isnt to punish customers for doing a big shop while disabled it's to discourage chancers who want free parking. I'd tweet this thread to the company it doesnt look good on the company. Ageist, ableist, shite really.

There really are some people here who have no idea of empathy!! I would talk to the manager and tell him about your mother's health issues. Be pleasant, but if you have no luck do mention that people have options as to where they do their grocery shopping - but hopefully it won't come to that. Good luck!

@Lulualla my MIL is 78, I recently took her to Morrisons and she took 2 hours, she has severe arthritis and walks with 2 sticks, and can barely walk so it's a really big deal for her getting round a supermarket. So yes it's possible to take that long.

I take it you are in England? I believe these are still not enforceable in Scotland although they send you threatening letters referring to English case law/precedent.

@Afternooninthepark it's ok I'll just post it here :)

Send to [email protected]

• To whom it may concern.

I wish to dispute the parking charge invoice listed above.

I dispute this charge on the basis that I was shopping in the lidl store (as evidenced in the attached image of my receipt) during the times listed on your invoice. I am a regular shopper at this particular store and spend on average £100 per week. I overstayed the 1.5 hours alloted parking time by 10 minutes and believe that the charge invoiced is massively disproportionate to the additional parking time. Especially on a Saturday afternoonn_ when the till queues are large and the store is very busy which naturally increases shopping time.

I have spoken to a customer representative at LIDL and to May on your helpline who have both advised me to email with proof that I did shop at the lidl store on the date in question.

I have also attached a screenshot from my phones location services which shows that I was in the store for the full amount of time shown on the invoice.

Please could you confirm both receipt of this email and a confirmation that your invoice will be cancelled?*

Obviously change for your circumstances. But if we can get it overturned just because I said the charge was disproportionate to the extra parking time plus the store was busy then I think you should definitely end up with this one overturned!!

Oh and put the parking charge invoice number in the subject line!

Which carpark I g company is it?
I’d just send of copies of the receipt with an appeal
Don’t put who was driving
And see what happens

It’s not a fine but an invoice and these com

ec1993 thanks, I’d never heard of POPLA.
And as for those with the empathy bypasses, I hope you are just angry keyboard warriors and not that cold hearted in real life, either that or your lives are so, so perfect that you genuinely have no concept of the struggles some people have to endure in their life.

@lidluk @lidlgb do you not want people to do shops for parties or holidays? It takes time especially if you're disabled

Op please post this to their Twitter and fb marketing team. You can send privately if you're worried about outing yourself

And these companies make thousands each and every day

I’m not pro at but these companies are barely legitimate and pray on vulnerable people like ops parents

Op do come back and say which company it is

Definitely worth talking to the manager initially and appealing. They're only intending to prevent people leaving the site, which they didn't . 🤷

Just phone Lidl and explain, they’ll waive it

Op dm me if you want and I’ll try and give you as much advise as pissible

can youse stop taggin me you muppets am gonna jaw someone here

@Kungfupanda67 lidl customer services just say they have no authority over parking fines and advise you to contact Athena parking (sham of a company) directly to send them your receipt.

It does also sound like your parents should get a blue badge - you can usually download the application form directly from your local council website

If it helps, I had one from Lidl, they sent a couple of letters which I ignored and they never pursued it further. This was two years ago.

It might be more stressful for your dad though, I didn't give a hoot

Any company with a contracted out carpark has authority to sort a parking charge

I used to work for a supermarket that had an outsourced parking control. If customers were fined I used to email the parking company and ask them to cancel the ticket. Customers had to bring proof of purchase and details of the fine.

If that fails, and the manager isn't interested, try tweeting the supermarket, they hate that kind of thing (bad for business) and normally sort it out.

CEO email

The advice to use the Athena appeal route and POPLA is fine, but still insist to Lidl directly that they cancel it. It’s a much more direct route with much less stress for you and your parents. Don’t let them drop it - take it straight to the MD, publicise on social media, get the press involved. Private parking firms are, on the whole, scum, and your parents don’t deserve any of this.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that this is some kind of official fine. It’s a speculative invoice that hinges on the assumption that some kind of contract was formed by signage when your parents parked. The terms of that contract are entirely one-sided, the parking firm WILL have contravened their code of conduct at some stage, and they and Lidl are in very think ice trying to penalise someone with a protected characteristic in this way.

Also - at no stage should you say or imply who was driving the car, as this then removes another angle you have under the Protection of Freedoms Act - again, private parking firms rarely get the wording of their notices right for them to be legally binding.

But, as I said none of this should matter as you should be absolutely demanding that Lidl cancel this immediately.