Lidl parking charge

[RahRahRa]

I do most of my weekly shopping at Lidl and have just received a parking fine for overstaying in the car park by 29 minutes, the time limit is 1 1/2 hours.

Yes I should have paid attention, it is a new branch that we’d never been to before and tbh I just didn’t think about the time limit.

This is such a shame, I love Lidl but have three kids all with varying levels of ASD who slow me down (I don’t take them all with me but often have one or two). I am also a bit of a ditherer and like to take my time choosing.

I will appeal the fine but I don’t fancy my chances of it being revoked. As I can’t risk this happening again, I have no choice but to not shop there anymore. Their prices have gone up anyway and we have closer supermarkets so no real loss to me - Apart from the parking fine!

Lidl say there’s nothing they can do as a third party looks after their car parks but they must be involved in setting the policies so why on Earth do they allow this to happen to loyal customers? 🤷🏻‍♀️

There's a huge amount of casual ableism on this thread (and also in the parking policy). Not necessarily towards OP but just in general attitude.

I used to live near a road that wasn't amazingly busy, but was a semi-major through-road. It was easy to grab 10 seconds to cross, without waiting for too long - IF you were able to cross in that time.

I regularly saw a disabled elderly man with a walker, who could only really shuffle very, very slowly indeed. Instead of being able to dash across in 10 seconds like the more privileged of us, he had to walk for about 20 minutes along the pavement to get to the crossing a hundred or so yards away, cross, and then walk back for another 20 minutes, to end up at the shop that was pretty much opposite his house. Then, it was another 40 minutes to get home again afterwards.

I always felt so very sorry for him and thought how terribly unfair it was for him to have to have such a struggle; but I'm assuming a lot of people on this thread just would be jeering unsympathetically at him and insisting that 'nobody needs to take that long to cross a road - unless they're being ridiculous and/or lazy'

Tbh, even if they do let me off the fine, this has put me off shopping with them. Why would they want to loose customers in this way? It makes no sense

Why would they want to make sure their car park is available for customers, the vast majority of whom don’t take 90 minutes to shop, rather than people using it to park all day and go elsewhere? Is that what you are asking?

It's Lidl. The shops are small and ranges limited. There's no cafe and most of them don't have toilets either.

Not all of them are small. Limited range takes longer to shop, in my view, because you're constantly having to re-write the weekly menu in your head as ingredients are missing, so you end up going round the whole shop 3 or 4 times. Basically I'm not cut out for Lidl shopping. And I never have time to visit the cafe in any supermarket since they all introduced parking limits.

Also, I can't speak for OP's local branch, but I think a lot of people are failing to realise that not all of the hundreds of branches of a particular supermarket are the same size. They can vary hugely - even Lidl and Aldi.

The store do have the authority to get the charge cancelled. Don't accept being fobbed off, go to the level above.

If you end up having to go down the legal route: As a parent with autistic children, being allowed longer to shop would surely be a reasonably adjustment for disability. By sticking rigidly to the charge they are in fact discriminating against you.

1 1/2 hours is unusually short, 2-3 is more typical. Though I've seen 1 1/2 somewhere they needed to deter football fans parking for the match.

Tbh, even if they do let me off the fine, this has put me off shopping with them. Why would they want to loose customers in this way? It makes no sense

The point is to stop people misusing the car park so there are always available parking spaces available for genuine customers

There's a huge amount of casual ableism on this thread (and also in the parking policy). Not necessarily towards OP but just in general attitude.

That’s a bit of a stretch (as was your example)

I used to shop with my grandma, and even on her slowest day with her walker, we’d be nowhere near 90 minutes. I currently shop with my DD in her Walker and yes, we take much longer to shop but couldn’t stretch Lidl to 90 minutes.

There has to be a balance between catering for disabilities, and making sure companies can manage their parking. In the OP’s case, it seems the resolution is quite clear, speak with someone at the store to register your arrival, and if you go over the time, send the receipt and a letter to the parking company explaining the circumstances. If they won’t refund, then go higher up in LIDL. There is no way they will decide a person with disabilities just has to pay for extra parking.

But, if you are intent on doing an “I’m off to Aldi” rant (even though they will have the same policy) and deciding the whole thing is just so unfair, then you aren’t really helping the cause.

Next time keep an eye on the time I suppose

I couldn't spend two hours even in the most gigantic mega-supermarket - all of those of you who do must really love shopping.

Also I genuinely don't have the time!

@SoupDragon

READ THE THREAD!

I have.

tbh I just didn’t think about the time limit.

I am also a bit of a ditherer and like to take my time choosing.

In Lidl

Even the dithererist of ditherers would struggle, do you a take a camping chair? I literally can't see how you move that slowly

Why would they want to make sure their car park is available for customers, the vast majority of whom don’t take 90 minutes to shop, rather than people using it to park all day and go elsewhere? Is that what you are asking?

Well, clearly not. They can put other measures in place to prevent people from parking up and leaving their car whilst they go elsewhere. Even for just one simple non-technical solution, they could announce the number plate over the tannoy after an hour and a half and very easily confirm if the customer is still inside the shop.

When it comes to disabilities and vulnerable people in general, I don't think most people seem to either realise or care that 'the vast majority' is not the same as 'everybody'. Again, I'm not necessarily saying this is OP's entire scenario, but imagine not only having to set aside half a day to go and get food shopping that many people could do in half an hour, but then also being harassed, blamed, fined and mocked for not being as privileged as the vast majority of people.

As I can’t risk this happening again, I have no choice but to not shop there anymore
You have the choice to NOT spend 2 hours in Lidl? This is normal for supermarkets, any other one you go to will likely be the same.

IT's not about being kind to customers, they have t manage the parking so that they have any customers. If there are no restrictions, people will park there all day for commuting, or for three hours while they go to other shops. Lidl needs the spaces that they own so that their own customers can park there and shop. Since most people can do even a large shop in 30 mins, they are already fairly generous allowing you three times that.

@DynamoKev

I couldn't spend two hours even in the most gigantic mega-supermarket - all of those of you who do must really love shopping.

Also I genuinely don't have the time!

I do like shopping, and if you actually want to browse then it just takes that long! I've spent 2 hours 55 mins in Tesco Extra before and had to rush to validate my parking before the 3 hours is up.

That’s a bit of a stretch (as was your example)

I used to shop with my grandma, and even on her slowest day with her walker, we’d be nowhere near 90 minutes. I currently shop with my DD in her Walker and yes, we take much longer to shop but couldn’t stretch Lidl to 90 minutes.

How is it a stretch? I accept that most people don't need to take anywhere near as long, but disabled people do exist. I'm glad your grandma isn't that slow, but plenty of people are. What about people who not only have severe mobility problems, but also poor eyesight and food allergies, meaning that they have to scrutinise every label minutely? Yes, they're a minority, but they're also people trying to live their lives as best they can.

I agree with the rest of your comment, though.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

Also, I can't speak for OP's local branch, but I think a lot of people are failing to realise that not all of the hundreds of branches of a particular supermarket are the same size. They can vary hugely - even Lidl and Aldi.

Yes, but even the largest Lidl or Aldi (there's a new one near me that has to be at least three times the size of the smallest ones I've seen, so I do realise that supermarkets vary in size) is nowhere near the size of even a smallish standard Tesco/Morrisons/Asda.

@Gilead

The point is with autism, it’s unpredictable. We should all be allowed enough time to shop no matter our circumstances.

I agree with this.

Is the OP autistic? Sorry if I have missed this as the reason for ‘dithering’.

If she ran over time because of the needs of her kids with ASD she should get a ‘free pass’ if some kind.

If parking wasn’t restricted in our Lidl all the spaces would be taken by commuters from Surrey and Sussex parking to get on a train into London. There would be no parking for shoppers until 7pm.

We have a retail park in a nearby town, where they have one big joint car park for all of the shops. One of my relatives found out, when he received a ticket in the post, that they had a two-hour parking limit.

At the time (I haven't been there for ages), there were about 8-10 very large shops there, including the likes of Currys, Halfords, a sofa shop and other places where you could very reasonably spend more than two hours in just one of the shops looking into all the options, measuring up, making your choices, arranging finance and delivery etc. - absolutely not the kind of shop like Spar where you nip in for a pint of milk and a Kit Kat.

It seems so foolish to me to actively want to deter customers from shopping with you and spending serious money. Where it's located, it's nowhere near anywhere else that you'd want/need to go other than the retail park, anyway. Madness.

Also, I can't speak for OP's local branch, but I think a lot of people are failing to realise that not all of the hundreds of branches of a particular supermarket are the same size. They can vary hugely - even Lidl and Aldi

Actually both Lidl and Ald only use a couple of different designs and the sizings are standardised. They don't vary hugely at all, by design.

I shop in Lidl..........during lockdown I was doing a full shop for three households and always had an overflowing big trolly. I just can't imagine any shop taking almost 2 hours in Lidl.
You can try appealing but I think you are going to be out of luck.

I got this. I appealed, they refused my appeal and I didn't pay and I heard nothing more about it.

They can vary hugely - even Lidl and Aldi.

Having worked on construction projects for both these companies in the past, I can tell you they don’t vary hugely. There are two store standards. One smaller, one larger. A store may look bigger or different from the outside, but the difference will be in the size of their warehouse. The only other difference is, not every store has a bakery. The standard layout is part of their brand.

Ignore the critics over the 2 hours. Big fucking deal! It took however long it took you.

This happened to me in Asda. Ask to speak to the manager & they will revoke it. Mine just rolled his eyes and said yeah, they always do this & it’s a PITA for them. He said yo just ignore it, which I did!

You have the right to spend however long you like in a supermarket lol, what’s it to any of the do-golfers on here?! 🤣

Do-gooders not do-golfers 🤣

You need to appeal based on the discrimination act. They need to make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities.

My SIL got a parking ticket overturned at Lidl - she'd done a big shop, heavily pregnant, with a toddler in tow. They just asked for a copy of her receipt when she appealed & removed the fine.