10-minute overstay in supermarket car park, genuine shopper

leitmotif

Hi. My partner took her elderly mother to a supermarket on 5 April and parked in the supermarket's car park. The car park is intended for the exclusive use of the supermarket's customers. To ensure the parking is legitimate, the supermarket asks shoppers to scan their receipts at a machine in-store after they have made their purchases, and there is a 90-minute time limit.


From the time of entering the car park to leaving the car park they stayed for 99 minutes. They were in that one supermarket the whole time (elderly mother has a damaged hip and moves at a snail's pace). As the registered owner of the vehicle, I've received a charge from the third party that acts on behalf of the supermarket.


My partner says that there were no parking machines in the car park. I haven't asked her whether there was adequate signage specifying the time limit. She says that there were no clocks inside the supermarket and she didn't have her mobile phone with her, so they had no way of properly gauging the time. After completing their purchases, my partner scanned her receipt at the in-store machine to 'legitimise' the parking, and it said 'thank you'.


I would like to know how to go about fighting this. The time limit is clearly intended to stop shoppers taking advantage of the system and doing some shopping at the supermarket and then going off to other shops in the area. In this case, as my partner paid by card, the supermarket's systems will presumably be able to show that they did indeed pay not long before leaving the car park (well, not long relative to my partner's mother's snail pace). A 9-minute overstay doesn't seem excessive in view of the circumstances. I suspect that the supermarket itself would be more sympathetic, but I've read about cases where they simply say 'nothing to do with us, so liaise with the third-party parking company'.


I did read through the private parking tickets information on here, by the way. Most of that is geared towards unfair charges, etc.

Redx

there is plenty of info on here in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread, including the template appeal letter

grace periods cover a 10 minute "overstay" , as you have to have time to park and time to leave , so have you read the relevant CoP about those periods ?

which PPC is it ?

also, complain to the retailer at head office and insist on a cancellation

Johno100

Who's the private parking company?

The_Deep

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

leitmotif

Redx wrote: »

there is plenty of info on here in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread, including the template appeal letter

Apologies, I didn't see that. I'll read through it.

Redx wrote: »

grace periods cover a 10 minute "overstay" , as you have to have time to park and time to leave , so have you read the relevant CoP about those periods ?

What's a CoP? If there's a grace period of 10 minutes then my partner should be covered by that alone.

Redx wrote: »

also, complain to the retailer at head office and insist on a cancellation

That was my first thought. What I don't want to do, however, is end up having to pay double (even though it's my partner's fault, I'm the sole breadwinner) because it will take time to do that.

Umkomaas

The critical issues here at this stage are the name of the parking company and the name of the retailer. We have strategies that work in these circumstances, depending on the combination of the two players.

Redx

Code Of Practice = CoP

there are 2 , the BPA one and the IPC one , depending which PPC this is and you still have not said who it is so far, despite being asked twice already

a landowner cancellation is your best option , hence complaining to the retailer that employed these par@sites

1) name the retailer

2)name the PPC

stop being so secretive, naming these people will help us to help you

our aim is that you pay NOTHING AT ALL, doesnt get any cheaper than that

leitmotif

Athena ANPR Ltd, who denote themselves as 'The Creditor' (I thought this was a charge, not a debt?) and Lidl.

leitmotif

They seem to be signed up to the IPC, which means the following from the IPC's code of practice is applicable:

15.2 Drivers must be allowed a minimum period of 10 minutes to leave a site after a pre-paid or permitted period of parking has expired.
15.3 The reference to 10 minutes in 15.2 above shall not apply where the period of pre-paid or permitted parking does not exceed 1 hour providing that the signage on the site makes it clear to the motorist, in a prominent font, that no grace period applies on that land.

Ergo they can't do anything.

Half_way

Extra time required and refused for someone with a protected characteristic ( Equality act) as well as the 10 minute grace period.

Before sending anything to anyone ( ie retailer complaint) post it here first

leitmotif

Sure, will do. Do I even need to complain to the supermarket? Surely I can just reply to Athena ANPR and point out that their parking charge notice goes against the code of practice they've signed up to?