Supermarket parking penalty.

NightKitty

In May I went to my local supermarket for groceries and parked in the car park. On the way in I was approached by a charity worker signing up the supermarket's customers for direct debits to the charity. The supermarket had obviously given the charity permission to carry out this activity, and I stopped to enquire.

It was a cancer charity which had helped my son when he had childhood leukaemia, and I wanted to support them. The lady asked me if I had any photos of the gifts the charity had given him back in 2005, and I said I would have a trawl through my phone for them - but it might take some time. "That's OK", she said, "Plenty of time".

It turned out that this was not so. I thought the supermarket owned the car park, and I WAS a customer of theirs.  

After finding the photos I did my shopping, which took me a long time as I am elderly and have problems walking. 

I then left. 2 weeks later I received the payment demand from UK Parking Ltd.

I explained the overstay and they rejected my appeal, and said I could appeal to POPLA. This I did, and the Parking company have today responded, saying I should have read the signs clearly displayed at the time, and that while they are "sympathetic" to the special circumstances, the fine still stands.

At the time of the incident I was unaware I had committed any offence, so I had no reason to scrutinise any notices. I had just given business to the supermarket and to the charity which the supermarket allowed to occupy its frontage and delay its customers, most of whom would have parked there rather than come on foot.

This feels like entrapment. The supermarket lures in the customers with charity workers who can cause them to overstay.

If I pay this fine I shall have to cancel the direct debit to the charity, as I cannot afford both.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can respond to POPLA and the Parking company? I have 7 days from today in which to respond.

KeithP

Hello and welcome.

My suggestion is that you go back to the store and speak to their customer services people.
Say something along the lines of what you have written here --

I had just given business to the supermarket and to the charity which the supermarket allowed to occupy its frontage and delay its customers...

Leave them a copy of the PCN and ask that they get it cancelled.

Which supermarket?

saajan_12

If you were a customer of the actual shop then that with the usual keeper v driver, signage and reasonable adjustments if it takes you longer to shop should be sufficient. The charity and whether they are authorised / employed by the shop is likely to just complicate things and distract from the stronger arguments. 

Coupon-mad

By the way it is NOT a fine and you won't be paying even when you lose at POPLA.  You should not have tried POPLA.  Complain to the Store Manager.

NightKitty

KeithP said:

Hello and welcome.

My suggestion is that you go back to the store and speak to their customer services people.
Say something along the lines of what you have written here --

I had just given business to the supermarket and to the charity which the supermarket allowed to occupy its frontage and delay its customers...

Leave them a copy of the PCN and ask that they get it cancelled.

Which supermarket?

Lidl.  Thank you for your response. I shall go and see the manager with a copy of the PCN.

fisherjim

Please stop thinking of this as a "fine", and you have not committed an "offence" you have received a speculative invoice from a company out to make money, the supermarket engaged them on a free contract and they make money by catching people out, they do not sympathise, they only want money.

Lidl can cancel these if you have receipts show them.

NightKitty

I went and spoke to the Lidl manager yesterday, and took the parking penalty letter in and a copy of my Lidl receipt from 16th May 2024 and the charity sign-up form for the direct debit.

He said your forum is WRONG and he can do nothing about this penalty notice. He said Lidl has no sway over UK Parking, that a request to cancel the notice would be completely ineffectual and ignored by UK Parking, and that he himself would also have to pay the penalty if he overstayed his parking time.

So now what can I do?  Popla have sent me UK Parking's response to my appeal on the Popla website, and UK Parking have refused any appeal. I have 5 days left to appeal to Popla.

Gr1pr

I don't think Lidl can cancel the PCN, not if UKPC issued it, because its probably a retail park owned by somebody like British Land and managed by a retail park management company like Savills ( Parking Eye tend to oversee Lidl car parks IMHO. )

So do the Popla appeal before day 33 , (. but I suspect that it will be unsuccessful. )

Try to find out who the managing agent or actual landowner is and complain to them about it too

1505grandad

Can you confirm that the ppc is UK Parking Limited  -  an IPC AoS member?

NightKitty

Yes it is. 

I am now on Day 4 of the 7 days I have in which to respond to their refusal to waive the penalty in my Popla appeal, by the way. (I appealed to Popla after UK Parking Ltd rejected my direct appeal to them).

Gr1pr

Its not a penalty, it's a parking charge notice 

Seeing as it's a BPA AOS member ( not an IPC AOS member. ). and a Popla appeal has already been made, you appear to be at the Popla comments stage, so the deadline is 6 days not 7 , so draft your Popla comments as soon as possible, before you miss the deadline