£70 charge for 10 minute parking - Thats ASDA Price

Liverpoolfc1967

Help needed. My wife parked at out local ASDA store in Northallerton. She had our young child with her who was off school ill. As a result of having to wait for his prescription him, she overstayed her 1 hour free parking time by 10 minutes.

When she returned to the car, the parking attendent was writing the ticket. Instead of stopping, he continued and appeared to her aggressive and getting the make of car wrong on the ticket.

We have subsequently complained to the ASDA store manager Duncan Haggie (who didnt respond) and ASDA CEO Andy Clarke (who actually responded), but said he was powerless to do anything. Andy Clarke just said that he had asked the Store Manager to speak to the attendent on his aggressive behaviour.

This seems to be extremely unfair and is just ADSA ripping off its customers. A £70 charge for a 10minute overstay in a car park is totally disproportionate. What makes it even more infuriating for me is that the attendent who placed the ticket on my wife's car and Duncan Haggie both saw she had our son with her (who was off school as he was unwell) but made no allowances for this. My wife returned home all shaken up and in tears. She is a social worker who works in Northallerton and has refused to visit the ASDA store since.

Advice needed. Do we pay this parking fine? Or do we have grounds to dispute.

Coupon-mad

It's not a fine and you WILL NOT be paying this at all.

Put a complaint on the Asda facebook page and ask if they want to be the next ones with a facebook debacle over their parking operator, like Aldi?

read the Aldi thread and facebook page to understand what has happened to them in 3 weeks!

...and then wait for the first Notice from the parking firm to arrive. DO NOT APPEAL YET. Wait. Is it Smart Parking or who?

albaredz

It sounds unfair because it -is- unfair. When stores claim they are powerless to do anything that is most likely a lie. They, in all likelihood, own the land, so they are the ones who decided to hire a PPC.

Was the car park full or near capacity when this occurred? If not then not only is the charge for a 10 minute overstay extortionate on the face of it, but they cannot even claim that the overstay negatively impacted business since there may have been plenty of spaces for other customers to drive into!

ASDA -can- do something about it. If it turns out that they do indeed own that land, which they probably do, their position on the matter is untenable.

EHBA

In the world of private car parking management there are no mitigating circumstances so please cast any thoughts of using them aside. As you have seen to date, they will not get you very far.

What we don't know are the parking restrictions at Asda Northallerton and the terms and conditions on their signage or any agreements with the local council ref free parking

We might assume that the pharmacy is within the Asda store but is this actually the case ?

We might assume that your wife did some shopping at Asda but is this actually the case ?

In the crazy world of private parking and POPLA appeals it probably won't matter much either way.

One thing we do know is that you are not going to get Asda to get the parking charge cancelled on the 'evidence' they have so far.

So you will have to go down the POPLA appeal route or take a modest risk and not pay

How long ago was the ticket issued and who were the parking company?

Liverpoolfc1967

The parking charge notice was issued by Smart Parking.

Car Park was empty at the time. So they incurred no damage. The Store Manager "Duncan Haggie " stated to my wife when she went to see him with our ill son (the ticket was still being written) - "why should I waste my
time appealing this ticket".

My husband did some research tonight. There are 3 supermarkets in Northallerton which have a private car park and offer free parking. Tesco provide their customers with 2 hours free car parking and Sainsbury's also provide their customers with 2 hours free parking. Asda only provide 1 hour free parking and have the highest charge for over staying this 1 hour of the other 2. So the Asda price guarantee obviously does not extend to parking charges.

Coupon-mad

dambrogio wrote: »

The parking charge notice was issued by Smart Parking.

Car Park was empty at the time. So they incurred no damage. The Store Manager "Duncan Haggie " stated to my wife when she went to see him with our ill son (the ticket was still being written) - "why should I waste my
time appealing this ticket".

My husband did some research tonight. There are 3 supermarkets in Northallerton which have a private car park and offer free parking. Tesco provide their customers with 2 hours free car parking and Sainsbury's also provide their customers with 2 hours free parking. Asda only provide 1 hour free parking and have the highest charge for over staying this 1 hour of the other 2. So the Asda price guarantee obviously does not extend to parking charges.

Post all of that, naming the Manager and quoting him, on the Asda facebook page!

...and then wait for the first Notice from the parking firm to arrive. DO NOT APPEAL YET.

EHBA

Agreed, do not appeal just yet, wait for the notice to arrive

Question - the parking attendant must have had a reason for issuing the ticket, the store manager must have had a reason for saying what he did and not getting the 'ticket' cancelled there and then. The CEO must have had a reason for washing his hands of the situation.


Two unanswered questions

1/ We might assume that the pharmacy is within the Asda store but is this actually the case ?

2/ We might assume that your wife did some shopping at Asda but is this actually the case ?

No-one is bothered, from the moral point of view, what the answers are but to get the best and relevant advice, let's have the answers.

Forget all this mitigating stuff, son was ill, delay at pharmacy and what free parking other local supermarkets offer.

Start reading some recent threads on Smart Parking and get an idea of what POPLA appeals are all about. Just to re-iterate, they are NOT about mitigating circumstances.

Maybe get some photos of the signage and the positioning of the signage. Are there ANPR cameras or CCTV covering the car park or is it just down to the attendant to issue tickets based on his 'timings'.

atilla

Check the planning permission for that site.
There is often a condition for parking in there.
Not so smart have form for imposing short limits in contravention to the planning approval.
Of they have breached the pp, then it most certainly is Asda's problem.

Buzby

All of which would be relevant points to argue if the invoice was in the slightest bit relevant or enforceable.

It isn't, it is simply junk mail so expending all this additional time fretting about it shows a lack of appreciation of the needless 'busy work' you are involving yourself in.

Liverpoolfc1967

Hi I have been in e-mail contact with ASDA directorate (i keep e-mailing Andy Clarke CEO and the directorate respond).

In their last e-mail they state
"Smart Parking Ltd have charged your wife a fixed penalty of £70 as the terms and conditions of use have been broken. "

Are they allowed to charge a fixed penalty? This was written by
Paul Howley, Executive Relations, Home Office Contact Centre. The Mint.

Has he put his foot in it? I thought fixed penalties could only be charged by the police. Please advise.

He justifies the fixed penalty as follows:-
"The amount your wife has been charged is based on company overheads, administrations costs and a charitable donation. "

atilla

the who replied to you us nothing more than a basic call centre oil. He has no authority, just fending off irksome emails. Good of him to state penalty though.
Personally I reckon contractual would have been better. That way you'd be able to make them squirm on the vat issue.
either way, still not enforceable.