Aldi Boscombe - Parkingeye PCN for parking on Sunday evening

rosak

Hello.
I just received a PCN from Parkingeye - BPA Member for parking at Aldi Boscombe car park on Sunday evening for 43 minutes. I'm an responsible adult and always pay my bills and face any consequences but this one is a bit unfair in my opinion. I went shopping with my daughter and couldn't find a place to park. This car park had instructions saying "type your registration number into terminal located inside of the store". Since ALDI was closed at that time I could not do that. There was about 5 other cars in the car park and about 100 free spaces.

PCN says "PC is applicable if the motorist fails to enter their VRN into the terminal"; "by not entering your registration details via the terminal (...) the PC is now payable to Parkingeye Ltd"

Is there a high chance/easy way to challenge that or would it be less hassle to pay the £40 bribe within 14 days? 

Asking for an opinion/others experience.

Thanks in advance.

Coupon-mad

First of all, on a Sunday in most towns and even large cities (including Bournemouth, Brighton, London, etc.) there's never a need to look for a car park because it's unrestricted to park on street.

I had a look on Google maps and the road by the Baptist Church just off the roundabout is fully single yellow lines.  Completely free of restrictions on Sundays.

You could park there all day and any evening.  And on any street with bays or lines after restricted hours.

A lot depends on what the signs say.

Can you get a photo? 

But I don't see a win here.  Never drive into private car parks when the shop is closed. Here's one someone is trying at POPLA but it's all about whether the signs were clear:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6460975/ecp-ntk-for-overstaying-when-store-was-closed/p1

I am constantly surprised when drivers say they used a car park on a Sunday, or when the shop was closed, though.  We are on your side but it is not condoned or needed to seek out car parks on Sundays.  

fisherjim

"There was about 5 other cars in the car park and about 100 free spaces".

Irrelevant, what has the number of free spaces got to do with anything, and the five other cars could be staff working inside.

The fact that you could not enter the store and access the terminal implies the company does not want you parking there after it closes.

However that does not make this scam charge fair or mean you have to pay it, you need to read the newbies thread to get a grasp of the situation, plan A is usually the first recommendation though Aldi might not be very sympathetic who knows.

It will probably hinge on signage, and the wording on the NTK, but be warned PE love the inside of the SCC.

YankeeBrit

Did you knowingly park in the Aldi car park but go shopping elsewhere because the Aldi store was closed? Is the car park also for the use of patrons of other stores adjacent to it? If so, was the signage obvious?

Is the PE PCN/NtK PoFA compliant? They usually are but in some instances, that is not always the case.

Brie

Aldi in Boscombe have been ok with cancelling these in the past albeit that was when the store was open and the PCN imposed regardless of logging the reg.  It's certainly worth an ask.  

The other cars may well have been employees or nearby residents who have some agreement but as others say that's irrelevant to you should this progress.  But it may be worth mentioning to the Aldi manager that it implied stopping for a short time was ok.    I can't recall if they have anything up to show "no parking outside of shop opening times".

Not sure where Coupon-Wide lives and they may be very right about parking being available in "most towns" on a Sunday.  Not my experience of the Boscombe area personally, especially in the summer!!!  

Coupon-mad

The single yellows are shown in GSV.  The streets round there have unrestricted, free Sunday parking.  Unless every street was full?

Brie

Coupon-mad said:

The single yellows are shown in GSV.  The streets round there have unrestricted, free Sunday parking.  Unless every street was full?

Knowing the area only too well all it takes is one event at the local football ground and there's no parking for a couple of miles out.  Add to that the crowds that park everywhere (including on private driveways) in order to get to the beach and it is really possible to be stuck.  

Coupon-mad

I get that but I also live near enough to a beach (in West Sussex) to confidently say that people can AND SHOULD park on street on Sundays.

In beach towns and cities.  As well as very busy car-hating / or tourist-attracting cities like London boroughs & Oxford or Cambridge.

You can certainly park on street in the centre of Brighton & Hove on a Sunday (near Brighton station) in a wealth of streets, even when there's a premier league match on.

I think the truth is, many drivers who wrongly go looking for car parks on Sundays don't know that a single yellow line means 'free parking' out of restricted hours/days on the sign.

That misunderstanding includes some of my relatives and friends who still don't know after decades of driving, that you can stop on DYL (of course you can) as well as park all day Sunday on a SYL.

pdel61

Coupon-mad said:

I get that but I also live near enough to a beach (in West Sussex) to confidently say that people can AND SHOULD park on street on Sundays.

In beach towns and cities.  As well as very busy car-hating / or tourist-attracting cities like London boroughs & Oxford or Cambridge.

Having worked in both Oxford and Cambridge I'd say Cambridge is currently the more car friendly and there are a lot of places to park for free on evening and Sunday, although I believe there are plans to make car driving more oppressive and costly. Oxford on the other hand totally hates cars, most of the streets are resident only and those that do have space are only for a couple of hours or so. Hardly surprising as the council travel policy is driven by the wants/demands of Cyclox.

Coupon-mad

Yes, it's hard but possible.  Two of my sprogs have lived in both Oxford & Cambridge respectively, when students - but there are places to park on Sundays even now that Oxford has gone even more extreme than they were.

I've never used the Oxford Park & Ride when visiting there and on a Sunday, I can always find single yellows within walking distance of the centre of both cities.

Umkomaas

I guess, given that it was a Sunday and Aldi was closed, most other similar shops would be closed too - from around 4-5pm. 

I just received a PCN from Parkingeye - BPA Member for parking at Aldi Boscombe car park on Sunday evening for 43 minutes

Having determined Aldi was closed, why stay on the car park for 43 minutes?  That's the real issue, as PE gives you a minimum of a 10 minute grace period to leave the site (useful for any further, similar occasion)