Britannia Parking Charge Notice at Waitrose car park

[OmiOmy]

I had such a stressful day that day. I parked at the Waitrose car park, went to the doctors, then chemist, and bought milk at Waitrose and as I headed back to the car I realised I had lost my phone. Retraced my steps but didn't find it. All while feeling poorly. I was late by 18 minutes.

Is there anything I can do? I've asked Waitrose via phone (can't do anything), I've sent customer feedback online but I'm not holding out much hope. What else can I do? I've had to fork out for a new phone, there's Christmas.

In terms of legality. Do Britannia (who the car park belongs to) have to send me notice by a certain number of days? The incident happened on 29th Nov and I've only received the notice today. Will that make a difference?

No, there is no time limit for sending you a notice. This is not a Notice of Intended Prosecution (for which there is a time limit) as you haven't committed an offence. This is a notice requiring you to pay the penalty charge set by the car park operator.

I'm afraid it is unlikely you will be able to do anything provided there was adequate signage at the car park warning you of the penalty for overstaying. The Supreme Court has held that car park owners/operators have the right to levy penalty charges against people who overstay the time limit, and you were well outside the grace period set by the BPA's code of conduct

That's disappointing. But thanks for replying. Much appreciated.

Have you tried talking to the manager at the shop? If you’re a regular they may be willing, and able, to pull some strings.

The PP is wrong. They have 28 days to send a Notice to Keeper. Have a look at schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act which deals with the private parking industry.
All irrelevant anyway since it was sent in time.
Go onto the MSE forums and search for private parking tickets. The forums, not the main site. Start a thread and you will get assistance. But you are expected to read the informative "newbie" threads so that you have a general understanding. Nobody is going to do it all for you but they will help you.
From what you say your only defence would be to not admit you were the driver. But this is fairly shaky ground. Usually it's possible to get these things cancelled by going into the shop. I did this for my mum at Sainsburys. First manager was very unhelpful but I got someone much nicer on the second attempt. She simply emailed them to ask them to drop it (which they did). My mum is elderly and I argued that she needed more than 2 hours and would have argued discrimination under the Equality Act if they hadn't cancelled it.

I talked to the manager. He was sympathetic but said he couldn't justify an intervention as I hadn't spent enough.

But I do have some good news.

Waitrose online customer services have sorted it so I don't have to pay the fine. 🎉🎉🎉

And if you're a mumsnetter, customer service person, thank you. I might not have talked to you but you came across as warm and lovely in your emails.

Anyway, thanks everyone. I am very happy 😊