‘Plan A’ wins again. Sainsbury’s Horsham - Euro Car Parks

Woppy1972

It’s been a bit quiet recently with family & friends avoiding PCN’s.

Had this one come up. Standard response from Sainsbury’s, ‘not our problem guv’ from Simon Roberts CEO Exec Office. Using the great resources from this site a polite but robust response got their attention.

Thanks everyone for your contributions to this site. 

//////////////

Dear Woppyman. 

Thank you for your email. 

As a gesture of goodwill please be advised that I have requested the PCN be cancelled. 

However, please also be advise that we do expect all customers to adhere to the clearly signposted terms and conditions of using the carpark. The onus does lie with the customer to ensure that these are adhered to at all times. 

If I can be of any further assistance in this matter or any other then please contact me on the details below.

Kind regards 

xxxxxxxxxxxxx | Executive Office 

J Sainsbury plc | 33 Holborn London EC1N 2HT 

@sainsburys.co.uk| [Removed by Forum Team] / Pronoun:She/Her

My Working Hours - Monday 8am-4.30pm,Tuesday & Wednesday 8am-3.30pm, Thursday 8:00am-2.30pm, Friday 8am-12pm 

Upcoming Annual Leave -  

/////////////////////////

From: Woppyman

Sent: 21 May 2025 16:30

To: @sainsburys.co.uk>

Subject: Re: Your Sainsburys Case

Dear Ms xxxx,

Firstly thank you for looking into this matter on behalf of my mentally disabled brother-in-law.

Whilst you have made Sainsbury's position clear, this appears to be a ‘template response’ using identical wording as has been sent to many of your customers who have fallen foul of the confusing and complex parking arrangements at your sites. 

I would respectfully ask you to reconsider this position based on the following information;

• My mentally disabled brother-in-law was shopping on behalf of my mother-in-law who has recently had a brain tumour removed. It is my hope that Sainsbury's values their disabled customers and is willing to do the right thing when a disabled customer has an issue whilst shopping in your store.
• You state that as this parking charge notice has been issued by a 3rd party company you are unable to assist my disabled brother-in-law. Please could you pass this case to someone who is able to assist. Perhaps Lucy Winlow in your Exec Office who has previously cancelled unfair parking tickets issued at this site for others?
• Sainsbury’s owns the land and also has entered into a contract with Euro Car Parks to enforce parking restrictions on their behalf. It is absolutely something Sainsbury's can cancel if they wish to do so and they have done so before. I would hate to think this was a case of Sainsbury's not being willing to put the effort into cancelling this charge for a disabled customer.
• Sainsbury's Exec Office has previously stated to other customers at the Horsham site that they were unable to cancel Parking Charge Notices and then changed their position. Please review this thread which is about a similar case where Sainsbury's Exec Office intervened and cancelled a Parking Charge Notice. Link here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6439013/sainsbury-s-horsham-euro-car-parks
• There is also the case where Lucy Winlow from Sainsbury’s Exec Office cancelled a parking charge, link here: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6524329/euro-car-parks-sainsburys-notice-to-keeper/p4
• Your competitors take a much more customer orientated approach to this issue. For example my wife forgot to enter her registration number on the system in Aldi last month. Aldi have a link on their website where you can upload a picture of the receipt and they immediately cancelled the Parking Charge Notice. Please see attached an email from Aldi - this is the kind of response I would expect from a company that values their customers.
• I attach a copy of the actual PCN and also a copy of my disabled brother-in-law's bank statement that proves he was shopping at the time the parking charge was issued.
• Euro Car Parks and in fact all parking enforcement companies are completely unregulated and operate in a manner completely biased to earning maximum profit. Trying to get a fair outcome from these organisations and the so-called independent bodies that are in reality owned by the parking enforcement companies is next to impossible.
• This was recently highlighted in Parliament by MP Sir Greg Knight who stated “Rip-offs from car park Cowboys must stop''; unfair treatment; signage deliberately confusing to ensure a PCN is issued; ''years of abuse by rogue parking companies''; bloodsuckers; ''the current system of regulation is hopeless, like putting Dracula in charge of the blood-bank''; extortionate fines; rogue operators; ''sense of injustice''; unfair charges and notices; wilfully misleading; signage is a deliberate act to deceive or mislead; ''confusing signs are often deliberate, to trap innocent drivers''; unreasonable; a curse; harassing; operating in a disgusting way; appeals service is no guarantee of a fair hearing; loathed; outrageous scam; dodgy practice; outrageous abuse; unscrupulous practices; ''the British Parking Association is as much use as a multi-storey car park in the Gobi desert''; and finally, by way of unanimous conclusion: ''we need to crack down on these rogue companies. They are an absolute disgrace to this country. Ordinary motorists and ordinary residents should not have to put up with this''.  
• This can be read in the transcript here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-02-02/debates/CC84AF5E-AC6E-4E14-81B1-066E6A892807/Parking(CodeOfPractice)Bill

I would like to avoid this escalating into a situation where I am defending this unfair claim in Court and using Sainsbury’s unwilling attitude to assist a disabled customer as part of my defence. It is the modus operandi of parking management firms to bombard individuals with threatening letters which my brother-in-law would find extremely distressing. However this does not mean we will be paying this unfair and unreasonable parking charge.

I urge you to intervene in this matter as your department has done before, or if you are personally unable to assist maybe seek the help of your CEO Simon Roberts. You are welcome to forward him a copy of this email as I'm sure he is deeply interested the reputation of Sainsbury's and their approach to diversity, equality and inclusion.

Looking forward to you and the company you represent doing the right thing and cancelling this invoice to meet the high standards in customer care that I believe Sainsbury’s aspire to.

Yours sincerely

Woppyman

On behalf of Mr x

Sent from Outlook for iOS

///////////////////////////////////

From: @sainsburys.co.uk>

Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2025 1:04:02 PM

To: Woppyman

Subject: Your Sainsburys Case ID

 

Dear Woppyman

Thank you for your recent correspondence which has been received into the Executive Office, I have been asked to look into your complaint and respond on behalf of Sainsbury's. 

Whilst I can appreciate your frustration in regards to the parking charge notice you have received, I apologise that as this is issued by a third party, and not by Sainsbury’s directly, I am unable to offer any assistance in regards to this matter. 

Should you wish to dispute the notice you have received may I kindly refer you to the company that have issued the parking charge notice in order to do so. 

Whilst I appreciate this may not be the response you were expecting, and would like to apologise for any disappointment, I trust this makes our position clear.   

If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me on the details below. 

Kind regards 

 | Executive Office 

J Sainsbury plc | 33 Holborn London EC1N 2HT 

@sainsburys.co.uk| [Removed by Forum Team] / Pronoun:She/Her 

Coupon-mad

Great example!

Please post it - if you haven't already - in SUCCESSFUL COMPLAINTS ABOUT PPCs so it gets more views over time and can be found later on by newbies.

ta