Parked in Parents with Children Tesco bay

nbamaster

Hi everyone,

I usually do shopping with my daughter, but today was an exception and I was by myself. Unfortunately I did park in designated parents with children car park bay. 
When I got back in the car, a bystander told my someone wearing high-vis took pictures of my car. Having said that I am expecting a letter with a fine..
Is there anything I could do to save me some money, other than - obviously not using that space anymore if I'm by myself?

Thanks in advance.

Umkomaas

All you can do now is wait to see if anything comes through the post in the next couple of weeks. Maybe the person who made the comment didn't like where/how you'd parked, and rather than challenge you directly, used the 'man in a hi-viz jacket' to make their point. 

Come back on this thread if anything further transpires. 

LinLui

I think it's highly unlikely that the man existed. A photo of your car doesn't prove you had no child with you. And as a disabled driver I'd almost be applauding an supermarket that bothered enforcing bays even when they are told! 

I'm not sure how you "unfortunately" parked in a parent and child bay. The word you might be looking for is perhaps "deliberately"? As a parent I'm sure you value these bays so you aren't managing your child on the other side of a busy car park. Just be mindful of that in future? 

gwynlas

Thr car parks are normally designated private land and spaces for disabled or parent and child parking are provided as a service as are zebra crossings and double yellow lines they are generally advisory rather than mandatory.. 

fisherjim

There will be no "fine" there cannot be in a private car park, and parent & child bays are just an invention of supermarkets backed up by PPC's as a revenue add on.

If someone saw you using one of these bays against the terms and conditions they would have to prove you did it against the rules, not just take a photo of an empty car after the event, what does that prove?

nbamaster

Thanks for all the replies. I'll wait and see if anything comes through the post. 
The reason I parked there, I guess, is I'm used to parking there as that's where I usually park ,(9 times out of 10 my daughters with me on a weekly shopping). So I guess I wasn't really thinking about what I'm doing at the time.

nbamaster

fisherjim said:

There will be no "fine" there cannot be in a private car park, and parent & child bays are just an invention of supermarkets backed up by PPC's as a revenue add on.

If someone saw you using one of these bays against the terms and conditions they would have to prove you did it against the rules, not just take a photo of an empty car after the event, what does that prove?

Well, I wasn't sure whether Tesco would bother checking their CCTV or anything like that, that would prove I was by myself. 

Coupon-mad

 No they won't have used CCTV.

If you get a PCN it will be non-POFA because Tesco either use APCOA or Horizon and you'll know from the NTK pictures thread (linked in the NEWBIES thread) that neither can hold a registered keeper liable.

fisherjim

nbamaster said:

fisherjim said:

There will be no "fine" there cannot be in a private car park, and parent & child bays are just an invention of supermarkets backed up by PPC's as a revenue add on.

If someone saw you using one of these bays against the terms and conditions they would have to prove you did it against the rules, not just take a photo of an empty car after the event, what does that prove?

Well, I wasn't sure whether Tesco would bother checking their CCTV or anything like that, that would prove I was by myself. 

Do you really think Tesco have nothing better to do?

Any parking charge money goes to their contractors who monitor the car park usually with ANPR clocking time on site it's a cheap and easy scam, they won't be bothered about this, and anyway why worry about it, cross the bridge if it comes up.