A letter came through my door today. It was a “Parking Charge Notice” for overstaying my time in an Aldi carpark.
Now let me explain:
There is a new Aldi store in the next town, and having a little spare time, we decided to go round the (fairly large) store and see what they have. Having pulled in once before so that my wife could get some bread, I knew where the disabled spaces were, and that they were not very well marked. Wow, we found an empty space.
After going round a fair bit of the shop, I was getting very fatigued, so we left. It takes some time to get me into the car, then my wife has to return the shopping trolley (trolley park is some distance from the disabled spaces), and we have to get settled and fasten the seatbelts before we can leave.
So I am holding a “Charge” for £70 for overstaying the 90 minute allotted time by - wait for it - a whole 15 minutes.
That is £280 per hour. A bit much for two disabled OAPs. Guess which store chain we will not be using again
Therefore, if you shop at Aldi, watch your time very very carefully. You have been warned.
They are obliged to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. That is the criteria with which to reject the charge. Tell them they are in breach of the equalities act by forcing disabled people to shop as fast as able bodied people.
Extra time sounds like a reasonable adjustment to me.
Send in a appeal to the parking company stating just what you have told us and see what happens , we had a different problem with them I had put our car registration in wrong on the machine in the store so was sent a fine but we sent an appeal with our shopping receipt in and they dropped it , so see what happens . I think the time limit in our store is 2 hours.
I should think a letter to the general manager of the store will sort out the excess charge. I’m not sure they have the right to enforce it anyway, but surely the time you’re given should be longer than 90 minutes in a disabled spot. Given that you can park on double yellow lines for 3 hours. And 2 hours in most supermarket carparks.
It’s unenforceable, but that’s not the point really, is it! I would do what others suggested and write to the store manager. I’d probably also put in the letter something to the effect of ‘I bet the press would have a field day if they found out about this!’.
Be careful. The advice in England and Wales always used “ignore it, they can’t enforce it”. That USED to be right but the law changed a couple of years ago and now they CAN.
Appeal it. Either formally - there will be details of how in the letter - or “informally” to the shop or the parking company. It may be that you were over the time you are allowed so that LEGALLY you might not have grounds but you would be surprised at how often an “appeal to their better nature” might help. (Not that they have a good nature, they just don’t want the bad publicity of a disgruntled hard-done-to disabled/older person losing money Especially one who can write to the local paper. They lurv stories like this. )
Today (April 7th, 2016) I had another letter from the parking company.
It tells me that the charge is still outstanding, and I have until the 6th of April, 2016, to pay before the charge is increased.
Looking at the dates of alleged posting, it would seem to me that the exercise is intended to scare me into paying.
I cannot prove when I received the letters, and they cannot prove when they were actually put in the mail.
They “presume” that I will receive their letter two days after it is written (in their words - issued):
So a letter issued on 23rd March arrives on April 6th (14 days in transit)
A letter issued on 1st April arrives on April 7th (7 days in transit)
Somehow, I do not believe that the timings are a coincidence.
My warning to disabled shoppers remains - if you shop at Aldi, watch the time very carefully.
Do not assume that you have two hours.
In fact, it seems that you must watch the time everywhere, and ask for the extra time even if you know you will not need it
The car-park, and I think all Aldi car-parks, are administered by the same management company, which I have deliberately not named. Regardless of who administered the car-park, it is a facility for Aldi shoppers, provided by Aldi.
The point of my original post is to warn those with a disability that slows their walking, that they do not get very long to shop in Aldi, and to watch the time if they do.
A new Aldi store is about to open right next to the leisure centre where I attend Neuro exercise classes. There is a lot of talk about parking restriction that are to be enforced by the store, although I don’t yet know the fact from the fiction. The disabled parking is already limited as the store bought a car park that had six disabled bays which have not been replaced, the leisure centre only has three. There are double yellow lines along the road next to the centre which accommodate six to eight vehicles. So for now I’m using this till they put yellow lines on the kerb as they have done elsewhere close to the Aldi store. I’m told the yellow lines on the kerb strictly forbid parking so I adhere to this.
Appeal the ticket through the POPLA system. You can ignore what they say and they can’t enforce their decision. That and it costs Parking Eye Cowboys £25 (I think, maybe more) for the priviledge of losing.
After all you’ve only the money you’d probably pay over anyway to lose and you can always pay that before they try and win in court.
You’ll probably win and the £80 (or whatever) is better off in your pocket than theirs. You’ll enjoy it more giving it a good, kind loving home- they won’t
I sympathise fully with you for receiving this fine for just 15 minutes over. That seems just so unfair and Draconian especially as you were legally parked in a disabled bay.
The English parking company will send a letter stating you have been fined £X. It’s a horrible feeling thinking you’ve broken a civil law. Leave it for over two weeks from date of the notice and this is doubled. Folks can easily get caught out with this too thinking it is the date of receipt!
But, here in Scotland the fine isn’t enforceable but again, most of us just pay up without knowing this. When my daughter was using my old car I received a parking ticket as owner of said vehicle, which I paid within the two weeks. She was furious that I’d paid it before advising her. I didn’t know then that it wasn’t enforceable here and didn’t want her to have to pay. She and her family were struggling at that point with illness and unemployment. I don’t know if the Scottish Parliament will change the law at some point - I hope they don’t.
It would be a really sensible, I’m not sure if this is the right word, writing to the parking company and appealing to their better nature (didn’t know they had one!) and see what comes of it. We often can’t afford these fines being on a limited income.
Good luck if you do decide to write. Let us know the outcome too.
To appeal under the POPLA system you first have to appeal to the Parking Company.
OK, so I have done this.
They have replied asking for evidence that we did actually shop at the Aldi in question, and that my wife and I hold valid Blue Badges.
I have just stuffed this lot in my reply.
I did scan the till receipt and send a scan (no way are they getting the original) and a copy is on file on my PC.
BBs of course were also scans.
Ignore it as it costs them more to take you to court than they could get and according to various websites they often loose in court because of the exhoritant charges the sensible judges chuck the case out, we have had them and ignored them nothing came of it they are cowboys
My daughter had this at Asda. She is disabled. Had a little accident in store so was out of time.
She appealed, and they dropped the fine.
Appeal and make a fuss. The reason why they put this time slot on is, not for the disabled people, its for the creeps who use these parking spots and then go off elsewhere shopping.
Send your timed receipts of shopping to the company too (or copies), to prove you were there, and they will more likely just let you off with the fine. MY daughter won her appeal.
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