Private parking cowboys.

[PaulSB]

My wife was recently billed for using the Sainsbury's car park in Clitheroe out of hours on a Sunday afternoon. To be clear it was after 5.00pm on a Sunday, the store reopened at 8.00am Monday. The "fine" was £85 reduced to £50 for prompt payment.

My son lives locally so he popped down, checked and photographed the information sign. The charges, times etc. were very clearly stated. There are no barriers to prevent entry etc. Mrs P had clearly "offended" and paid up.

I emailed Sainsbury's to ask if the company feels this is a positive way to treat customers? I didn't get a reply. I've always felt Sainsbury's is a sh1t company and only shop there under protest. This is simply further confirmation of my views on Sainsbury's. Their choice. I tell people the story. Good PR.

I can understand why this is done but it's still a cr@p attitude towards potential customers, especially those who make a genuine mistake.

 

[Regular.Cyclist]

A number of years ago I went into a car park at White City in Old Trafford. They had ANPR and a display beside it showing the registration number it had read. On entry in got my number plate wrong, placing an N where an M should have been, but got it correct on exit. I’ve often wondered what hassle that misread plate caused some innocent motorist.

 

[Bristolian]

I had a similar experience during one of the Covid lockdowns. My wife had a hospital appointment and had previously telephoned to say that she needed me to accompany her beyond the reception area, which the surgeon's secretary said would be okay and that she would inform the receptionist. This hospital has a system whereby you enter your vehicle registration number into a touch screen pad at the reception desk but, due to infection concerns, the receptionists were now doing that - the second receptionist.

Due to receptionist one being a complete JobsWorth we never got to speak to receptionist two so didn't get to enter the car's reg number and were virtually escorted off the premises. Anyway, a couple of weeks later I received a PCN for failing to pay for parking at the hospital. I made an appeal, including a letter from the Admin Manager at the hospital confirming my version of events, which (of course) was rejected. My appeal to POPLA was successful and the penalty was wiped out. In the assessment and decision letter the appeal assessor was rather critical of the parking company and stated that they should provide me with a written apology which, of course, they never did.

Earlier today I took my daughter to a hospital appointment and the pay machine was broken so I wasn't able to pay. I reported it to the security desk on-site and they said "yeah, we know, don't worry about it" but I fully expect another PCN in due course.

 

[fossyant]

I was given a ticket for parking in a gym car park.

The company had photographed my car entering and leaving, claiming I had parked on site in excess of 24 hours.

I had actually been there twice in 2 days, which I presume is fairly common. This was easily explained by the fact the CCTV must have missed me leaving and re entering the next day. So I hadn’t been on site for 24 hours,

I appealed and explained this to them and asked them to recheck all the car park CCTV footage to see me leave and coming back.

They dismissed my appeal without even commenting on the issues I raised. I suspect they no longer have the footage to check.

So I then had to take more time to appeal to the third party dispute resolution service, who immediately kicked the fine out.

So a good result for me.

But what annoys me most is the fact that the parking ticket was clearly issued incorrectly, by a CCTV failure. And despite making a reasonable case the appeal was rejected without any additional evidence. Thus forcing me to the ombudsman service.

How many people would have just paid the £60 to make this go away, as there is the threat that the fine will rise to £120 if you fail. Or worse, bailiffs and court action.

That's happened to me with an Asda car park near work. Explained I worked nearby and had parking at the business and had called in both days for groceries. I live 10 miles away. They cancelled it.