Parking: £2 for 2 hours at Sainsbury's. Then it's £50!
In Sainsbury’s in Chiswick, they’ve a particularly direct and capitalist approach to car park inventory management. Namely, the first hour costs you £1. Fair enough. Stay up to 2 hours and you’ll pay a reasonable £2.
If you spend over £5 in Sainsbury’s, your parking charges are complimentary. Stay for 2:01 hours and your charge will escalate to £50. Pity, then, the two twenty-somethings I witnessed the other day staring dumbfounded between this sign and the parking meter. It read ’2 hours 23 minutes’ and the fee payable, well, it was the big five-oh. The couple obviously hadn’t examined the sign, the terms and conditions or their watches. For a good three minutes they just stood there, staring, mouths open wide in shock. You can get a lot of shopping for £50.The chap quickly fumbled for his cigarettes and quickly lit up whilst the girl began pointing at the £50 sign. Deary me. The last I saw was the girl stomping off to the Sainsbury’s customer service counter. I was left wondering if the shop assistants cleared the balance or insisted it be paid. I wonder. The moral of the story? Check the terms and conditions closely even at ‘friendly’ brands like your local supermarket.
If you receive a ticket in a private car park, such as a supermarket car park, or private multi-story car park, remember that it is not criminal law, but contract law that applies. The driver enters into a contract with the landowner when they driver into the car park.
It is only the driver that can be subject to a ticket from a private company. If they do not know who the driver was, they cannot claim a penalty. They have no legal right to demand that you identify the driver.
Under contract law they can only claim for any loss they have suffered because of your offence. They may try to claim a penalty of, say, £100, but in law they may only be entitled to any revenue they had lost. So, if you pay £2 to park for one hour, but stay for three hours, they can only claim for two hours of lost revenue, which is £4.
I don't think one of these has ever stood up in court, but because of the tactics they employ (big official-looking yellow tickets, wording almost identical to a proper council ('Parking charge Notice' = PCN, same as Penalty Charge Notice), bullying debit collectors etc) most people pay up.
Fight the bastards!
If you receive a ticket in a private car park, such as a supermarket car park, or private multi-story car park, remember that it is not criminal law, but contract law that applies. The driver enters into a contract with the landowner when they driver into the car park.
It is only the driver that can be subject to a ticket from a private company. If they do not know who the driver was, they cannot claim a penalty. They have no legal right to demand that you identify the driver.
Under contract law they can only claim for any loss they have suffered because of your offence. They may try to claim a penalty of, say, £100, but in law they may only be entitled to any revenue they had lost. So, if you pay £2 to park for one hour, but stay for three hours, they can only claim for two hours of lost revenue, which is £4.
I don't think one of these has ever stood up in court, but because of the tactics they employ (big official-looking yellow tickets, wording almost identical to a proper council ('Parking charge Notice' = PCN, same as Penalty Charge Notice), bullying debit collectors etc) most people pay up.
Fight the bastards!
These kind of crazy car park charges are becoming commonplace, Mike42 is correct and it's well worth fighting. I recently saw a story of a couple who had been in their local Homebase for a few hours, the reason, they spent a few thousand buying stuff for their new house. A few days later they got a parking ticket through the post for spending over two hours in the car park, despite complaining to the store manager with their receipt in hand he refused to do anything!
These kind of crazy car park charges are becoming commonplace, Mike42 is correct and it's well worth fighting. I recently saw a story of a couple who had been in their local Homebase for a few hours, the reason, they spent a few thousand buying stuff for their new house. A few days later they got a parking ticket through the post for spending over two hours in the car park, despite complaining to the store manager with their receipt in hand he refused to do anything!
These kind of crazy car park charges are becoming commonplace, Mike42 is correct and it's well worth fighting. I recently saw a story of a couple who had been in their local Homebase for a few hours, the reason, they spent a few thousand buying stuff for their new house. A few days later they got a parking ticket through the post for spending over two hours in the car park, despite complaining to the store manager with their receipt in hand he refused to do anything!