Please help me prove my innocence over two separate visits to a supermarket on the same day, as I have been fined for overstaying.
I drove to my local Aldi store twice – once before work and then at lunchtime – and stayed only briefly each time. I paid in cash as both trips were for a few bits – milk and crisps before work for the office staff and a lunchtime meal for myself. So I didn’t keep the receipts.
I subsequently received a fine for £40 from ParkingEye, which claimed that my car had remained in the car park for five hours. I refused to pay the fine as I did not accept that I had done anything wrong, and it has since risen to £70. I feel like I’m banging my head against a brick wall.
By the time I got the fine the CCTV film at work had been recorded over, which would have shown my car entering and leaving while it was allegedly at the Aldi store.
I have appealed via the independent appeals service Popla, spoken to ParkingEye and Aldi’s parking team, and still no one wants to listen to reason. My family used to spend upwards of £100 a week at the store but haven’t been back since. SD, Stalybridge, Cheshire
Aldi’s car parks throughout the UK are managed by ParkingEye, though the retailer encourages shoppers who have been slapped with what they consider to be an unfair charge to complain directly (via customer.service@aldi.co.uk). Talkboards, meanwhile, are full of complaints.
Aldi has told us before that it does not receive revenue from parking notices, but that does not stop us from receiving a regular flurry of letters through this column. It insists that it doesn’t want genuine customers to be penalised.
Meanwhile, ParkingEye tells us that it “encourages people to appeal if they feel there are mitigating circumstances and they should not have received a parking charge”. It adds: “In this case, we requested, but did not receive, any written evidence and therefore rejected the appeal. The driver made a subsequent appeal to Popla, which agreed with ParkingEye’s decision. ParkingEye works closely with clients to agree appropriate processes.”
The lesson is to hang on to receipts, even when it’s just for a packet of crisps and a can of Coke, and always challenge an unfair fine at the earliest opportunity.
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