Aldi Parking Eye Fine Jan 19 - Successful Appeal with apology from Aldi...

AmaniA · 7 February 2019 at 8:47AM

It seems that the number plate recognition systems in many Aldi store car parks managed by Parking Eye are failing to provide accurate evidence of parking infractions. And this is resulting in customers using the same Aldi store to shop more than once in a 24 hours period receiving unfair, unwarranted parking fines. Either it’s a technical issue or Parking Eye are hoping people will not be able to prove they are innocent and therefore it’s a scam.

It’s been covered in the National press in the past so why they haven’t fixed it is open to debate...

ALWAYS KEEP YOUR ALDI RECEIPTS.

So I hope this post helps others.

I’ve taken out contact names and contact info, but I will happily provide these if someone wants to use as part of a fine appeal.

With this approach, my parking ticket was cancelled via Aldi in less than 24 hours. Although please note that Parking Eye have not send me a notification of the cancellation yet and all I’ve received from them so far is an unhelpful automated email response.

Anyway... Here’s how I tackled it.

I appealed to Parking Eye and sent the below to Aldi U.K. And I also copied in Aldi’s CEO:

My Parking Eye / Aldi case - fined for loyalty

I shop in Aldi between 1 and 3 times a week. A loyal customer

On the 26 and 27th Jan 2019 myself and my husband shopped there on 2 separate occasions on 2 consecutive days. Leaving the car park on 26th immediately after our Aldi shopping trip and then returning to the same car park again just before our 2nd Aldi shopping trip that weekend on 27th.

So... my husband has now received a parking infraction notice and £70 fine demand from PE for leaving his car there for 21 plus hours? - seriously, what is wrong with them! Why are their cameras not working properly, is it a scam?

We’ve appealed sending them the dated Aldi receipts for both separate shopping trips. And we have an electric vehicle so we can actually prove that our car (by VIN number) was charging at our home charging point via the mobile charging app on the night they say the vehicle was left in the Aldi car park overnight.

But i’ve done my research, other people have experienced this - forums and online info tells me this is not a unique case. In fact it’s common. People have been fined for 2 consecutive shopping trips within 24 hours over and over again. And imagine if you’re not like us and you didn’t keep receipts (this was pure luck btw) or don’t have evidence. Lidl and Asda don’t use Parking Eye btw

But legally speaking, I believe that as this same thing has happened to others prior we have the right now to claim compensation for our inconvenience because PE have not fixed a recurring issue they’ve been notified about before on numerous occasions. And what is Aldi’s liability here? They act on your behalf under your instruction and control.

Do you only want customers to shop at you stores say once a week? Please let me know the rules and restrictions on multiple store visits, as a commercial business this would seem to be a bizarre business model, but I think customers need to know.

Please also see the below, just taken from our back and forth with Parking Eye so far - you’ll get the gist...

‘Dear Parking Eye Appeals Department,

It’s disappointing that when your organisation has been negligent in ensuring your systems for accurately establishing correct facts when issuing fines are at fault, you continue to inconvenience me further by insisting on complaints being put in the post.

I will write a physical letter and charge you costs including £100 for my time in having to do it, as you request. Online there are numerous examples of other people being fined by you due to the same error with your cameras in car parks that have led to your mistake with me. As it is easy to prove you haven’t fixed this issue, despite being aware of it prior, I am entitled to charge you costs for having to spend my time on your mistake.

In addition to receipts for Aldi shopping I also have evidence via my home electric charge point app records for my Electric Vehicle (vin number specific) that shows my vehicle was charging at my home on the night you say I left my car in an Aldi car park.

I will happily persue or defend this action by whatever legal action is needed and publicise my story.

Regards”

So Aldi, what’s your take and how are you going to deal with this issue?

ALDI REPLIED QUICKLY:

Good morning

I am writing regarding your correspondence addressed to our CEO, Giles Hurley, who has reviewed your email and asked me to respond on his behalf.

Thank you for contacting us regarding the parking charge you recently received from our Salisbury store.

I have spoken to ParkingEye, who have confirmed that your appeal with them was successful and your charge has now been cancelled.

A confirmation letter has been sent in the post to the registered keeper of the vehicle and should arrive within the next few days.

Once again, thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

Yours sincerely

XXXXX
Aldi Parking Management

Aldi Customer Services
UK 0800 042 0800

Ireland 1800 991 828

I RESPONDED:

Thank you for your email. So it should be dropped immediately. And I expect an apology in writing also. We shouldn’t have been put in a position to have to spend our time appealing this in the first place.

I hope now that Aldi and your CEO are fully aware of the issue that Parking Eye have with their number plate recognition systems being unreliable, you’ll immediately be making sure the same thing doesn’t happen again to any other customers. Having spoken to an expert about this today, the number plate recognition cameras used by Parking Eye are too unreliable when vehicles are queuing one behind the other to be effectively used as evidence of an infraction.

So now you know the issue with parking at your stores relating to this, the onus and legal responsibility is on you as well as Parking Eye to fix this glitch or find a different way of tracking parking timescales.

Regards.

THEY APOLOGISED:

Good afternoon

Thank you for contacting us again. I am happy to hear that the charge has now been cancelled by ParkingEye. I can appreciate how upsetting this must have been for you and I would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Please be assured that your comments regarding the system in place and your concerns regarding a potential glitch have been forwarded to ParkingEye, for monitoring purposes.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to raise your concerns with us.

Yours sincerely

XXXX
Aldi Escalations Team