Morrisons car park warning

Jennifer_Jane

I was in B&Q once and went over the time, but no receipts as they didn't have what I was looking for. OK, I was stupid and hadn't checked the time (hadn't actually seen any signs about parking), and yes, I had been off-site before (how sensible is it to keep chasing parking around a town, it contributes to the congestion of the town and wastes petrol). But the penalty notice that arrived was designed to bully me into paying a pretty hefty fine of £70 (the Council doesn't charge this).

It then went on to say that my credit rating (!!) would be affected, and then sent a 'solicitor's letter'. All the letterheads purported to be official with very serious sounding wording and police-style black and white borders. Luckily I knew to ignore them (thanks MSE forum), but every time I received a letter I would be totally intimidated, and had to keep returning to the forum for courage and support.

And, in this particular instance, the B&Q parking area is a) huge; b) plenty of spaces always, let alone on a Wednesday at mid-day c) not close to a station or where there was a likelihood of peope wanting to be there all day.

So, a rip-off by B&Q who surely must be aware of the tactics used by these terrible parking bullies. Have refused to shop there now.

ashleypride

fannyvart wrote: »

Utter nonsense. There IS something to get away with. It's called the rules. Morrison's car park - Morrisons rules....people should start respecting the rules more, and then there would be less problems.

Utter nonsense. Morrisons get PPCs to impose these 'rules' to try and stop people parking and going into town / going to work. If a legitimate shopper wants to spend 5 hours in the store Morrisons would be utterly stupid to want to stop them. (HINT: It's the PPC that want to enforce it.)

fannyvart wrote: »

Just because the person doesn't need to pay the fine on a technicality, it doesn't make it right that they flaunt those rules to be honest.

It's not a technicality it's the law (and lack of). If I have a need to spend 3 hours in Morrison I will do so, it's a stupid rule to impose on a legitimate customer spending money. If you want to be a sheep and follow dumb rules not set by the landowner, but set by a PPC whose sole purpose is to extort money with their thugs be my guest.

st999

it's a stupid rule to impose on a legitimate customer spending money.

My point exactly.

ashleypride

goater78 wrote: »

He's already emailed the CEO, I doubt he can go much higher! My problem is that I don't think he has a legitimate complaint.

Of course he has legitimate complaint, you would have to be hard of thinking to consider otherwise. To make it very clear, alienating paying customers isn't a good way to conduct a business.

fannyvart

ashleypride wrote: »

Of course he has legitimate complaint, you would have to be hard of thinking to consider otherwise. To make it very clear, alienating paying customers isn't a good way to conduct a business.

And also to make it very clear, if it's Morrisons car park, they can put whatever hourly restriction they like on it, if they say 2 hours, then thats their rules and the rules are there to be followed. Not that hard really.

I wonder what would happen if you realised you were coming to the end of your 2 hour limit, so returned to the car, drove it out of the car park, and back into it again....would that reset the limit

fannyvart

ashleypride wrote: »

Utter nonsense. Morrisons get PPCs to impose these 'rules' to try and stop people parking and going into town / going to work. If a legitimate shopper wants to spend 5 hours in the store Morrisons would be utterly stupid to want to stop them. (HINT: It's the PPC that want to enforce it.)



It's not a technicality it's the law (and lack of). If I have a need to spend 3 hours in Morrison I will do so, it's a stupid rule to impose on a legitimate customer spending money. If you want to be a sheep and follow dumb rules not set by the landowner, but set by a PPC whose sole purpose is to extort money with their thugs be my guest.

If you don't like the rules set by the company, go somewhere else, it is THAT simple. It is not YOUR land, so it is not YOUR decision whether to have a restriction in place. End of.

System

ashleypride wrote: »

Of course he has legitimate complaint, you would have to be hard of thinking to consider otherwise. To make it very clear, alienating paying customers isn't a good way to conduct a business.

I think its you that doesn't understand how business works. What your saying is if you ran a business and provided a carpark you would be happy for customers to park in your carpark for an indefinite period of time as long as they spent money in your shop? You would just end up with people parking there for free all day and spending almost nothing!

Clearly most people think 2 hours is a perfectly reasonable amount of time for someone to shop! in a supermarket Plus I don't know why Morrisons are being picked out for this. Every supermarket does this. Its not limited to one supermarket its limited to every supermarket where the car park is in an attractive location for other services/shops. Near me Tesco and Sainsburies operate the same policy (near the city centre), while Morrisons and Asda don't (out of town). Its a perfectly sensible solution to ensure that customers who want to visit the store can park!

ashleypride

fannyvart wrote: »

If you don't like the rules set by the company, go somewhere else, it is THAT simple. It is not YOUR land, so it is not YOUR decision whether to have a restriction in place. End of.

I couldn't care less what illegal rules the PPC try to impose on me. I'll shop for aslong as I need to.

ashleypride

goater78 wrote: »

I think its you that doesn't understand how business works. What your saying is if you ran a business and provided a carpark you would be happy for customers to park in your carpark for an indefinite period of time as long as they spent money in your shop? You would just end up with people parking there for free all day and spending almost nothing!

No, I am saying if somebody is in my shop for 8 hours, then they are free to park in my car park without fear, abuse, bullying, extortion, and made up fairytale fines. If you think otherwise then I hope you never become a manager or go into customer services, and suggest you start eating pies with your PPC friends.

As for people parking in the car park and going somewhere else - irrelevant I have made no comment on that.

st999

I wonder what would happen if you realised you were coming to the end of your 2 hour limit, so returned to the car, drove it out of the car park, and back into it again....would that reset the limit

No it wouldn't,

return prohibited within so many hours or some such wording on the sign.