Parking in Tesco

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

My local Tesco has a sign on the way out stating that "all profits from parking charges are given to the Tesco charity of the year", which on the face of it seems very commendable.

However I correctly assumed that whilst Tesco may hand their profits over to charity, the contractor (Euro in this case) doesn't. Tesco said they would amend the sign and too right as well as it gives the impression most of the £70 will go to charity when in reality probably only a small amount does.

Whilst talking to them I asked if I got a £70 charge would I have to pay and was told 'yes'. Whilst they couldn't tell me how they would enforce the charge they stated that I agree to the terms of the contact sign posted by parking on their property.

They are going to call me back next week to answer a few points raised, I understand the advice is to ignore (and don't have any tickets) but from what I've read technically any charge included in a contract must be a pre-estimate of damages otherwise it is a penalty and isn't legally enforceable under contract law.

Technically speaking, by stating that "profits" are made, does this mean Tesco can not claim their charge is a pre-estimate of damages, as this would surely be classed as recovering a loss and there would be no "profit" to speak of and by claiming to make a profit are Tesco basically admitting their charge is actually a penalty?

trisontana

You are spot on. This point has been raised several times before on this and other forums.

Coupon-mad

Yes, the amount donated is TINY. But the signs are very misleading as most people would assume each £70 actually goes to charity which is [EMAIL="boll@cks"]boll@cks[/EMAIL] of course. Maybe 10% who knows? Misleading but they have used that sign for years.

I started a thread about this matter here and on pepipoo (where I post as SchoolRunMum) in 2009:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=46605&start=0&p=417519&#entry417519

And of course you don't have to pay or even take seriously a fake PCN! :rotfl:

vax2002

great idea, call them up and tell them how people get with without paying them...NOT

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

great idea, call them up and tell them how people get with without paying them...NOT

What has donations to charity got to do with getting out of a ticket?

peter_the_piper

The charity would benefit more if Tesco charged 10p for parking and donated it all.