Parking Eye fine - Aldi in Walton. Should I pay?

[Briony32]

Just received a letter from Parking Eye. I overstayed the one and a half hours free parking at Aldi car park in Walton, by 10 mins! They have sent me photos of my car leaving and arriving so there isn't really any quibbling. I haven't any receipts from my shop there as it was several months ago (May) but at least one lift is frequently not working and it can take 10 mins to wait for the lift. Also, the entrance to the car park has been a building site for most of the year causing frequent blockges and queueing. It's £40 and will go up to £90 if I don't pay in 14 days. It's free parking for one and a half hours and I just overran. I think there is adquate signage.
I probably should just pay up but I think it's rather unfair as I was only 10 mins over. I've read snippets about private car parks not being able to enforce their fines - just council car parks are the ones to worry about.
Does anyone have direct experience of getting a fine from this particular car park recently, and can they tell me how they got on?

Thanks for the info Briony, I have only started shopping in Aldi in the last 2 or 3 months. If I get a fine I'll be off back to tesco for my shop. Will definitely keep my receipt! I hope they'll cancel your fine without fuss

snice Can you tell us your details and what happened?

I was done for overstaying the time limits in a free shop car park(Home Bargains). I sent all the letters recommended by MSE , contacted the shop ( no reply), pointed out that there was no financial loss but after about 10 mths ended up with court papers so gave up and paid as it was so stressful

We got done in aldi too, contacted shop with copy of bank statement to show we shopped there, and they cancelled it with parking eye.

Ours now has a system where you have to enter your reg number in-store

Sorry to hear that snice. I don't think I could stand the stress either!

How long after the date did everyone else get their 'invoices' ?

Can't believe how long it took them to send am invoice to briony. I certainly wouldn't normally keep a receipt that long and don't normally pay with card

Well, I went into the store where my offence was committed and spoke to the Manager. She recognised me as a regular customer and gave me a preprinted form which basically tells me to appeal to Parking Eye.

I'm reluctant to do this as lodging an appeal seems to be admitting the offence; I was hoping she'd say "Don't worry valued customer, I'll arrange cancellation here and now"!

I've got a statement from bank which shows a £40 spend on the day of the overstay and a further £80 spent within that week.

Suppose I should email evil PE with my appeal as my 14 days to pay the 'discounted fine' of £40 expires on thursday.

Thanks for the Aldi email contact MrsMiniver - I emailed them at the weekend but haven't heard anything yet, how long did they take to repsond to you?

Where are you up to with it all Briony?

I heard back from them pretty quickly iirc. I found this phone number for aldi which might be worth a try? 0800 042 0800

this has also happened to us on Ban Hol Monday of all days, I guess I wrongly thought BH were exelpt and stayed 30 mins longer but did spend 40 quid in store. We have paid the 45 fine (totally disprportionate to hte offence) as we could not be bothered wilth the hassle of it all. Rob Dogs. It was a fair cop I guess and if the fine was reasonable I could cope with that but 45 is ridiculous rising to 90 if paid after 14 days

Ah, sorry for delay. It's all sorted now. I emailed Aldi customer services using the address on their website last week. I included a copy of my bank statement with Aldi purchases highlighted to show that I'm a regular customer (there wasn't actually a purchase showing on the day of fine as I must have paid by cash!) I followed it up with a phonecall as I was starting to wonder if I would be better off just paying the fine before it got too big. The guy at customer services said it takes them a couple of days to read emails sent. He said they don't want to deter genuine Aldi customers from shopping with them, so we just needed to prove we are regular customers. Spoke to him today and he said the fine has been written off. At last!
I'm glad I didn't take it up with Parking Eye as it sounds like they are a nightmare to deal with.
Good luck to anyone else in a similar position!

Phew! good to hear Briony.
Thanks for updating - I'll be hanging on to my receipts!

Glad you've been given the all clear Briony

Must be a day for resolution of parking charge notices.

I appealed to Parking Eye with a firmly worded email describing my regular custom at their store. Due to lack of scanner at home I didn't attach actual bank statement but thankfully received an email from Parking Eye this evening stating that they have cancelled my fine.

Strangely when I examined my bank statement there wasn't an actual transaction for the day of the offence but I'm sure I did shop that day (it was the day before DS's birthday party and it was catered c/o Aldi ) and I always pay with debit card. I thought a debit payment would be processed immediately and be dated accordingly.

Anyway glad it's been resolved; good luck to anyone else appealing this ridiculous overcharging scheme.

I KNOW this is a zombie thread but I just got a bloody letter from Parking Eye with a 'fine' for £70, I was there from 12.20-13.11 so 51 mins in all, that's what the photo shows.
I can only think that I forgot to put my car reg in at the terminal.
I won't be able to find the receipt, it was 11 days ago.
Have just found a receipt from the 13.10.15, can't find anymore.

Found this thread after googling ALDI and parking fines.

Same here, just got off hols to find a parking fine for Aldi at Bangor, didn't know about reg terminal either. Only there 33 mins. Friends and family say ignore it but not sure. Have messaged Aldi but no receipt and so many Aldi entries on bank statement but none for that exact date although they can take a couple of days to show up I think.

I also received a parking fine from parking eye for £70. I rang Aldi customer services and said I could prove I shopped there by my bank statement. They asked me to send a copy of bank statement and fine and gave me a reference number. They said I will not need to pay the fine and were very sympathetic. So please ring them - if you paid by cash with no receipt I still think they will be sympathetic the first time -so please give it a try.

THREAD IS FROM 2014

Don't pay them!

Here’s what happened to us. I appealed to Parking Eye and they turned us down. Messages on MoneySavingExpert.com and MumsNet advised me Not to use their lengthy POPLA appeals service but to contact Aldi Customer Services direct ([email protected]) I did and they have cancelled the charge. Here’s what I wrote:

I have been sent a parking charge by Parking Eye Charge Notice 553263/314335.

On 25 May 2018 I parked in Aldi, Leek and bought some items. My husband and were on a long and tiring trip from our home in Bristol to family in New Mills, Derbyshire. I have mobility problems. We did not know there was a terminal system in the Aldi car park as our local Aldi in Bristol (in which we shop 3-4 times a week) does not have such a system. We have never overstayed in our Bristol Aldi. I parked for less than an hour in Leek.

As a regular customer I am sure Aldi does not want to alienate its customers. Surely the parking system is there to deter persistent offenders. I am asking you to rescind the charge as it was an honest mistake.

Kind regards