AIBU to appeal a private car park fine for leaving site?

[Rosesandthorns66]

Has anyone got any advice regarding a parking fine I have received in a private car park.

I didn't over stay but instead of going to the shops first, I went to the bank to check my balance at their ATM.
The fine says they've got a 20 minute recording in which period I did not return.
Also, it says reason for issuing fine is: as its a patrons only carpark.
To be honest, I didn't realise that, I only looked at the time that was allowed for parking which is 3 hours.
When I returned, I did go to the farmfoods to do a small shop.
Has anyone got any advice if I have grounds on which to appeal this.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I suppose I am in the wrong and unfortunately its an expensive mistake which I won't be repeating again.

I thought there was a law that stipulated that fines and penalties have to be proportionate to the actual loss that they suffered as a result of your actions; but I must have been very mistaken.
Did Boris Johnson get this memo when his government fined people £4000 for snowball fights in 2020? And when he got a fine of £50 (not even loose change to him) he said “I’ve paid it, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease can you stop talking about Partygate?”

Extorting money from motorists is a massive con in so many ways.

This is a really good point. Shopping in a store only means going into it; not necessarily buying anything - and thus of course you would have no proof of purchase if you didn't buy anything.

What if you only wanted one or two things and they didn't have them in stock? What if what they were offering and/or their prices were unacceptable to you, so you declined to make any purchase? Entering a shop in no way commits you to buying anything.

I mentioned credit card exploitation before; and this has now reminded me of the time when the then-government forced banks to stop charging £20, £25 or more for sending you a letter to tell you were overdrawn or over your limit. As I recall, they capped it at £12 - which, if a penalty is justified, I would say is a much fairer ballpark figure.

£60 is absurd and in no way fair compensation for the loss that they have (not) suffered. This kind of extortion should be automatically officially considered a scam and outlawed - but it won't, because many local councils run the exact same scam in their car parks.

Unscrupulous tradespeople are roundly condemned as rogue traders when they charge multiple times what a job 'should' reasonably cost; but £60 for parking in a car park for a few hours - especially one that ordinarily can be free - is somehow fair?! It's a shame you can't report the companies and councils who do this to the latter's own trading standards department and get them to investigate and rule on the (gross un)fairness of it.

I can't stop thinking about this,
I've looked at the sign and how it has been added in small print about customers parking whilst on the premises.
I think this is misleading.
It could be clearly written as customer carpark only.
Also whilst the staying time is high lighted the rest is in small print.

True.
But on this it could appear I'm making excuses because of the parking fine.
I did go into farmfoods and I've found my proof of purchase.
I am also a regular customer at farmfoods. I've spent over a £130 in July.

It would mean a lot if farmfoods could show some gesture of goodwill on this occasion.
My local farmfoods won't help maybe their head office team could help.
Any advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation and managed to resolve it.

My parking fine states I left the carpark at 9.01am.

My farmfoods receipt states I was at the till at 9.40am. Also I obviously went and looked around the store before buying.

Oh, I'm not saying that this would be the case in your situation; but just that if other people were accused and fined, they wouldn't necessarily have proof of legitimately having been in the shop if they hadn't bought anything.

Do you have a local paper? If so, it might be worth your while approaching them, as they're usually keen for any local stories. A headline saying 'Farm Foods customers fined for using the store car park' will sow a seed in many people's minds that it's maybe a shop that it isn't now worth their while risking using. You won't be the only one, and other people will add their own similar negative experiences in the comments on the paper's online site.

FF will be aware of this and will then be forced into action to mitigate the effects of the bad publicity on their business. You may even find that the parking cowboys company 'apologises for the confusion and has cancelled this shopper's fine'.

Send ypur receipt or screen shot of bank statement proving you shopped there

Surely you’re allowed to withdraw cash that you’re spending in the shop?

have a go at appealing. Perhaps the store can locate ypur purchase and print a receipt/ photo of you paying

I have emailed farmfoods and sent it to them

This

@Rosesandthorns66

I detest these parking parasites.

I would try writing to the store manager, and hand deliver it. Say you went to the bank to get cash to pay! You have the receipt and you have spent a lot of money with them in the past. Please can they help as paying the fine will result in financial hardship etc.

The contract is with the parking company, but I have successfully sued parking companies for predatory tactics and seen contracts where stores do have some discretion.

However, the sign is clear (though awful) so you won’t get anywhere with appealing to the parking parasites. The appeals process is all the same people anyway.

I used to be a regular contributor on the Martin Lewis Parking Forum. It is really good.

Please act quickly as these PP’s love to add extra costs.

not everyone shops on cards. i have two friends who still use cash (as big brother is watching and they don’t want anyone knowing who they are/their business -personally i dont think itll work).

So you could be one of them, and in order to shop at farm foods you required cash. hence your visit to the cash point prior to shopping. (if the receipt says you paid by cash).

even if they didn’t tell you yet, they will know what time you came back though so if you were away for ages they will know you were doing somwthing other than that however your receipt from farm foods proves you were indeed a shopper there, the purpose of the car park.

people park in our free tesco car park and then shop in the town centre, rather than pay for that car park.

it is annoying when i cannot get parked at tesco because it’s full of m&s customers that could park there but were too stingy to pay a pound. in our case they need a tesco exit barrier and someone checking receipts and if no tesco one you pay a pound so youre no better off parking there than near the town. they dont need a parking company charging exorbitant fees. sledgehammer to crack a nut.

I paid the one I got for parking in a shopping centre whilst I visited dh in hospital (as for many hospitals parking on site is horrendous) as absolutely I knew I had gone offsite. Interestingly the evidence photographs showed my car but not me actually leaving the site so I guess I could have dishonestly argued it. Anyway the second day I saw wardens monitoring cars I wandered off to a shop first and went offsite a different way. No fine for this one. I have since then managed to find somewhere different I could park easily and legally so not tried this strategy again. It was very annoying though as the shopping centre carpark has had masses of empty spaces anytime I have visited so I was not stopping anyone use the shops.

What does all the small text at the bottom of the sign say?

If I understand everything correctly. You parked, left the site to go to the bank, upon returning, you went to farmfoods and bought a few items. You later recieved a charge notice for preaching the rules for patrons only.

Does the signage say anything about not being allowed to leave the site?

Yes the small text at bottom says no leaving the carpark.

I'm a little overinvested. I asked before if the top of the sign said it more clearly than the small print, as the photo looked cropped. OP didn't respond to this, but as the thread is still going I just typed the car park name on Google Maps. There appear to be these signs all over it. It clearly says "For Customers of ... whilst you remain on the premises". A lot more obvious than the cropped photo provided.

Saying that, I hope the appeal works. I'm not sure if the reason of going to the bank will be the key, as OP didn't pay with a note from the ATM, but she clearly returned quickly and was a paying customer as the receipt shows.

So you could be one of them, and in order to shop at farm foods you required cash. hence your visit to the cash point prior to shopping. (if the receipt says you paid by cash).

That won't work. She paid exactly £3.30 in cash. You can't get that from an ATM.

not everyone shops on cards. i have two friends who still use cash (as big brother is watching and they don’t want anyone knowing who they are/their business -personally i dont think itll work).

I'm currently in a UK seaside town where there are lots of businesses along the prom - and all of them have signs up either saying 'cash preferred' or 'we only take cash'. I think it's a mixture of no signal for online payment machines to work and small businesses trying to avoid unnecessary merchant fees.

Ironically, they have now started charging 30p a time to use the toilets, and they and the council-run car parks are now card payment only. You can't get an ice cream, bacon butty, bucket and spade, hire a deckchair etc. without cash; but you can't go for a wee without a card!

Lots of people prefer/need to use cash for all kinds of reasons; and many older people don't do online banking at all. Yes, most of them use bank cards in shops, but without online banking, you can't be sure how much is in your account... and if you go slightly overdrawn, then the banks will be there to rinse you with hugely disproportionately high penalties, just like their pals the car park cowboys.

Ironically, if you hadn't bothered going to the cash point to check your balance or get cash, and instead had just grabbed what you wanted and run out of the store without paying for it, you would probably have had less/no punishment than you did being an honest customer.

She did not know how much she was going to spend! She might have seen products she wanted to buy for £20. She has spent much more at the store in the past.

What she might have done isn't relevant. What she did in the past isn't relevant . She was caught breaking the rules. If she could have come up with a reason, with evidence, she might get away with it. But getting money to spend on a theoretical purchase that could have happened, but didn't, won't be accepted as a reasonable excuse

It is very relevant. How many parking tickets have you successfully appealed?

I have not said she didn’t breach the contract - she did.

I am saying to write to the store manager as she has a history of being a good customer and was likely to need more cash - or to know how much cash she had available to spend at the store.

Thankyou so much for your replies, they are really appreciated.
Yesterday I was feeling a little over whelmed, I must have forgotten to reply to your message.
As I initially couldn't find the receipt, then I called my bank to see if I made the transaction by card. Then I emailed Farmfoods to ask if they will look into it for me as I'm their regular customer.

Thankfully, in the evening I tried looking in the car again and the receipt was under the car seat. So I've emailed that to farmfoods.

I am their regular customer and have spent over £160 in July in Farmfoods.

Update:

Farmfoods customer service have replied to my email and will look into it. My receipt definitely will help the matter because I was at the till in Farmfoods at 9.40am.

By just saying I went to Farmfoods most definitely will not help matters.
Anyone can come up with that excuse.
I was trying so hard to find my receipt and getting really worried.
I even thought maybe I didn't go to Farmfoods.
Thankfully, after searching for the receipt I found it under the car seat.

I have sent an email to Farmfoods as it is my first parking ticket, ever.
It will be appreciated if they can be supportive on this occasion and waive the charge as a gesture of goodwill.

I am their regular customer. My bank statement says I've spent over £160 in July at Farmfoods.
Hopefully they will be supportive on this occasion.

I initially wanted to buy more items. I didn't have enough money. So I just used the change I had in my purse for milk.
As you can see from receipt, I have bought 3 milk bottles, as I try to save every penny. 3 milk bottles work out cheaper.
My children can have cereal at least they won't go hungry.