PCN - Sainsbury's car park - wrongly claiming I was there for 5 hours but I visited twice that day

slambos

Hi, last month (Dec '24) I received a PCN from Euro car parks claiming I had overstayed the maximum allowance of 2 hours in my local Sainsbury's car park (where I do most of my grocery shopping). They included a pic of my car entering at approx. 9:30am and another exiting at approx. 2:30pm, so said I had been parked there for approx. 5 hours. However, I had only stayed there around 15 mins in the morning and then returned later that afternoon for what wouldn't have been more than 30 mins. Admittedly, in the morning I had used their car park without buying anything (only available parking on the high street) in the store but during my 2nd brief stay of that day I think I bought a couple of items of food. I must have paid by cash as I cannot find any transactions for that day on any of my cards and I would have (as usual) discarded any paper receipts thinking I didn't need them. I have explained, in my reply email to them, that I made 2 brief visits that day and am now waiting on their reply (should arrive imminently as they said within 28 days). I imagine they will ask for evidence of my 2 visits which unfortunately I cannot provide. So, I am thinking that I could ask them for the camera footage for that whole day which will show my car entering and exiting but I'm not sure if they will do that. Any thoughts/suggestions will be most appreciated - TIA

UniDebtStudent

Ask for the footage but they may not release it. If you remember the items you bought, time of day and till used, you may be able to go to customer services and get a reprint of the receipt and then see if Sainsburys will get the fine cancelled, or if you can show you parked elsewhere in that time period between the two visits (like a drive through for example) it would prove the car couldn't be in two places at once and you didn't stay the whole 5 hours.

Gr1pr

ECP use ANOR cameras at the entrance/ exit, so they won't have footage,  just the 4 pictures , time on site, 2 are orphan images 

The first task was plan A,  complaining about the PCN to the business and getting it cancelled 

Proof or evidence of being elsewhere like google tracking etc would be useful 

Coupon-mad

Search the forum for double dip ANPR flaw.

Complain to Sainsburys.

Car1980

Yes, I suspect Sainsbury's will cancel it.

slambos

thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. I emailed Sainsbury's last night about it but then received an email from Euro Car Parks this morning saying my appeal has been successful. They have cancelled the PCN, which is a relief!