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?

I would challenge it. I once went over 3 hours (a whole thing with a cranky hungry baby and losing my keys, then shopping and the scanner died right at the end so everything had to be unpacked, go through a normal checkout then repacked, then feeding the baby again because it all took so long). Anyway I phoned, I explained. They said no problem. They're not alway's draconian.

IncognitoIsMyFavouriteWord being disabled, meaning you are slower and therefore take longer, is grounds for appeal and this definitely applies in OP's parents' case.

It would be worth speaking to the store manager with the receipt. They often have the ability to get them retracted.

Seriously, you’re being really passive about this. You don’t have to do what Lidl customer services tell you. Appeal to Athena, yes, But take it straight to the Lidl CEO. Make it clear what terrible customer service this is - make sure Lidl themselves realise the effect they’re having on customers when they do things like this.

People rolling over and dutifully paying these things are the reason parking companies are getting rich from us. The DVLA are happily handing over our personal data to these scum because they get a nice little cut. And the ‘independent’ appeals body is run by representatives of the parking industry. The whole things is totally corrupt.

And while the private parking companies are merrily ‘fining’ people for going 15 minutes over an arbitrary limit, they’re all doing things wrong with no consequences. There almost certainly isn’t the correct advertising permission in place for the signs in the car park, the signs almost certainly aren’t properly written or fully legible, the notice they sent you almost certainly has errors etc. And in the case of your parents, they’re almost certainly contravening the Equality Act. But they’re seemingly allowed to carry on doing that. It’s a disgrace.

Once we have a proper government again and they are actually concentrating on getting things done instead of fighting over Brexit, we may get some movement on this:

www.gov.uk/government/news/drivers-to-receive-greater-protection-against-rogue-private-parking-operators

Thanks all, I’m going to try POPLA now.
Itssosunnyout If you genuinely do have experience with less-abled people and dementia sufferers such as my parents you will appreciate that, on their own they can not whizz around a store in a short time. Your relatives are lucky that they have you with them to check out things like parking times etc. Unfortunately I was not with my parents at the time and had I been then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

ItsGoingTibiaK you are right. I am currently being rather passive as to not upset my father who is struggling with mum’s dementia but I am secretly fuming especially after reading that the owner of Athena is a millionaire simply from his unscrupulous businesses. I will contact the CEO of Lidl. The signs are placed very high up on lampposts and in very small print. It doesn’t help that some supermarkets state up to 2 hours, some 3 hours, others 90 minutes and some have no restrictions at all. Confusing for the majority of us but even more so when elderly.

I have appealed fines like this. You have to argue the fine is disproportionate to their loss of income from staying over the time. So use a template from the Martin Lewis Money Saving expert website. I’ve challenged 3 now! I even took a photo in the dark to prove it couldn’t be seen easily for one. Each time I’ve had a letter saying on that occasion they’d let me off!

Thanks faith

Lidl GB has a Facebook page

Have to say I'm amazed (and aghast) at their initial response!! Blue badge customers should definitely be given longer to shop.

I know this is might be a typo but you do know that Aldi and Lidl aren't the same business I hope, you've used both names and obviously you must make sure to contact the right one

Thanks Not
coconut Oops, didn’t realise I’d typed Aldi, definitely Lidl!