Forums Forums Wirral Information Law And Your Rights Prenton Aldi : Car parking Charge Notice

Anyway the OP seems to have gone quiet here so i will now dip out as it is turning into a tit for tat troll fest.
My advice to the OP.
Go on Pepipoo, do your research, follow the advice and get it killed off or dont pay and have it hanging over you for 6 years or pay up and never shop there again.

Sorry. One additional thing r.e. terms of a contract. There is the CPUTR legislation which orevents unfair or excessive penalties in a contract. UK law not hearsay.

Opinions and information strengthen and keep us involved.

The other person may have gone but many people do benefit by all the information posted.

I've certainly learned something from this post, thanks.

There are a number of counters to using Dunlop case.

In the Dunlop case there was an agreement that the tyres would not be sold below a certain price, if they were sold below, it would be in breach of the contract, the contract additionally added the "penalty" clause should that matter be breached as the seller had no control once the tyres had been passed on). In the car parks case, there is no agreement to stay only for a specified time, the amount you pay depends on how long you choose to stay so their is no breach of contract.

With the car park being "free", what is the normal price? is it free or is it the charge? Depends which way you see it discounted. Obviously there is no such thing as free, therefore the free element has to be seen as the discounted part and the charged part being the normal price.

The car park "penalty" charges have already been through the courts and meet the industry guidelines, therefore they are not classed as penal.

In more recent times than the Dunlop case (which is over 100 years old), the courts default to upholding the contractual terms and in only the most exceptional cases to they identify it as a penalty clause. eg Alfred McAlpine Capital Projects Limited v Tilebox Limited (2001), Philips v The Attorney General of Hong Kong(1993).

I really can't understand why numerous people refuse to understand that they do not have the right to free off-road parking. Car parks are often valuable land, if the owner uses it as a car park he has the right to charge, the same as he is allowed to charge if it converted it into an amusement arcade.

I imagine the greater majority of people on this thread have a vested interest in this matter, so what is your point?

If anyone has found a shop car park that has been abused - a few classics near railway stations, they would realise that these charges are actually in the interest of the customers to enable them to have parking available instead of being constantly full of commuter's parking.

Mark and Geemeister, fair comment but i dont think myself and DD are going to come to an agreement over this. DD obviously agrees with Parking Eye that a "penalty" of £100 is acceptable for an overstay in a free (for 1.5 hours) car park.
Boom DD, penalty charge? surely you mean parking charge? as a private company can not issue penalties. Says so in CPUTR.
"Meet industry guidelines"? The industry that polices itself with a body that the parking companies finance themselves. How independent?
You seem to suggest Parking Eye claim it is a contractual charge? Is this the case? So VAT is applicable then and a VAT invoice produced when a PCN is paid? Genuine question.

It doesn't matter what service is being sold, if you agree to pay an amount, then that is what has to be paid.

Parking eye and VAT has been news for at least 4 years, I'm sure HMRC have looked into it, though it beats me.

I think you misunderstand my stance, I am against anyone getting hit with charges like this, but I'm also against car parks being full because people are taking up slots when they shouldn't be parked there at all. I can't think of another business model that works better than the Private Eye one.

Its good that Aldi(etc) provide free parking for their customers, its bad of the public to use the Aldi car parks when they are doing business elsewhere, the law has to allow Aldi to have control over their own property in a way that prevents abuse of their car parks.

It is completely immoral to dump your vehicle on Aldi's property while you pop over to get your glasses, it is just the same as dumping your car on someone's house drive while you go shopping.

I agree people abusing car parks is totally wrong and they do deserve to have a deterrent. Again it is private land and they surely hold the right to control who has access and for how long etc.
I would be most upset if someone abused my land.
I do however feel a realistic charge would deter without penalising genuine errors, i.e. slight overstays, parking slightly outside the marked bays. Parking eye can only make profit from people breaching the terms which i believe means they will not be reasonable and they certainly dont accept mitigation, for instance the guy who fell on Snowdon and was taken to hospital but was still hit with a PCN.
Finally to say that you can not think of another business model that works better than the PE one.The landowner does not receive any money to compensate for these breaches.
Wow, alienate your genuine customers. Good business model for PE who were bought out by Capita for £57.5 million.

Parking Eye lease the management of the car parks off the landowner (£1000 a week is quoted for some), so the the landowner does profit (indirectly) from the charges.

It does highlight how many people are abusing the car parks and that there is an endemic problem.

In my experience the Snowden case is quite unusual because PE normally back down from any genuine provable mitigation, but I guess the Snowden case not being for a supermarket might make a difference, I think the supermarkets have a "no bad publicity" clause and certainly have an influence over PE.

The next technology will be tracking people after they leave the car to see if they left the property and/or used the relevant store.

I'm sure Argos have people-tracking technology in store, I did a stock check at a catalogue-point then went to a pay-point and it asked me if I wanted to order the item - somehow I was tracked from catalogue-point to the pay-point.

joking aren't you

i parked in a ParkingEye controlled car park in Wigan a couple of years ago like every other member of staff did
we all got ticketed, i refused to pay the fine

4 months later i recieved a letter from Northampton Court.. £150 CCJ imposed

And for all the doubters ....

The Supreme Court has upheld an £85 charge for overstaying a free car park.

SOURCE

Source won't let you read the article unless you pay.

Unfortunately you have to subscribe to read that link.
Hopefully find a free link soon. Not showing up yet

I read it free on FT first, but I did mean to post this other link instead .... SOURCE

I now, make a point of not assuming the last car park operates like the one before regardless of who runs the dam thing.
You need a survival guide nowadays along with a highway code.