Going to the store to buy a jug of milk has now become a legal matter. So we need a lawyer to accompany us, every time we leave our home… What a society we live in…….

£100 fine for a slight oversight with poorly displayed information? Utterly punitive. Should not be allowed. Thjis idea of fining people for the most minor transgressions is disgusting.

What a scam parking has become

Legally scamming people seems to be good business these days.

The law is supposed to protect the public, not those trying to fleece them!!

There seems to be a punishment at every turn these days 🙄🫤

What a mess parking has become.

I would tend to boycott places who use these parking recognition systems

Lesson to learn. Always have your fake license plates installed.

The fact that private business in the form of a car parking company, can gain access to the DVLA records is a disgrace. No crime has been committed by parking a car, it's a civil matter, and yet your information is given by the government to these people in order that they may prosecute over a civil matter. No doubt the car parking companies have made certain that various politicians (💰) over the years have ensured that this continues, as otherwise these companies would be stumped. Maybe now that we have a new batch in power ......... silly me.

These private companies should not be able to have access to our number plates and details.

Ridiculous, people of a senior age especially won't know whether their coming or going.

Why go these stores? If no one went they would soon rethink this madness.

My local Sainsbury's in Whitstable has no ANPR, no cameras, in fact no restrictions at all. Come and go as often as you like. How welcoming is that! I shop there a lot!

This practice was stopped in Queensland Australia by denying these private parking companies access to the registration data of vehicles. No name, no address, no parking infringements/fines. Only the government has legal authority to issue a fine. It was unpalatable to the public that private companies have access to private information, and the government dealt with it.

It's sad that proof of guilt has shifted to proof of innocence. I wonder how long it will be before the courts are clogged up with this petty nonsense.

Visited a car park in morning, left and returned PM. Received a penalty stating had been parked all day. Photo going in AM and exit PM. Good job I had a tracker on vehicle - never heard from them again. Rip off merchant.

Me too.....I would go to court to have my say. Since when has parking cost £100?? It's pure greed on Aldi's part 🤑🤑🤑🤑

I can't believe going shopping has become such a nightmare

When I spot parking T&Cs with "penalty" charges, I like to let the local council know that the land is being used for commercial profit, not just parking, for rateable value purposes.

My Lidl has this system. The cashier used to remind you, every time she gave the receipt, but that's stopped now. I imagine a few people get caught out.

What the hell is going on ! When will we have to register going in or out of our own house No wonder people loose ‘ it ‘ .

I've never heard of this at a supermarket before but have at hotels. 🤔

Only educated developed countries has system like this - you park yourself, you now have to tell the system you have parked, you pick up stuff yourself, then scan yourself to pay, load the car and put the trolly back … what a waste of human resource. What a mess.

Lesson for today brethren, Government gives free reign to big business to rip us off at any opportunity it can devise.

The attitude towards shoppers today is terrible you cannot go back within 2 hours etc no wonder people shop on line, what a way to treat customers 🤬

another example of how people have become so greedy and inhumane. nothing but an easy and effortless way to make (scam) a _lot_ of money from innocent citizens

I had an encounter with Aldi cameras a few years ago. I was working for a building repair firm in Birmingham that has the most appalling record for bullying. I popped to Aldi during my lunch break for some food but was unaware of the camera policy. A week later my firm notified me I'm was being charged the parking fee plus an administration fee of £60 for dealing with the issue. No challenge to be made.

What to me is shocking is the fact that a Barrister can't afford to go to Waitrose but has to rely on Aldi, anyone up for Crowd Founding BBB?

My dashcam will provide the evidence that I didn't park

This Parking Eye system was installed a few years ago at my local Aldi. You had to put your number in when you left. I used to go there on foot sometimes when I parked elsewhere. I would still put a number in when I left but it wasn't mine. I did the same when I parked there as well but I would use some other random numbers from the cars that were there, or maybe cars that hadn't even been there. I don't know what effect it had but they did away with that system within a short time. The cashier told me they got too many complaints but didn't elaborate on that.

This happened to me at a LIDL store i waited in the car my wife went inside shopped then came out. Two weeks or so later we received a PCN. I contested it stating my partner is dyslexic and the company would be loathe to victimise a person with a disability all bullshit of course but the ticket was overturned

Surely they'd have to have signs up to warn people that they need to validate?

The APR should have a time delay of say 5 minutes after entering and before leaving. The dentist where I take individuals I support had these installed. Reception didn't tell me and it was raining. I was with two adults with autism, so concentrating on them, cars and gathering the paper work doesn't leave much time to look at all the new signage that had appeared. Also, because it was a double appointment for each person we were there longer. I think in the end my company dealt with it. Yes, I did send them an email to confirm they are accepting responsibility 😅

Maybe you should do some investigation into who runs these car parks. There are only a few companies. Who owns them and who are their MPs? I wonder.

The Store should aunouce/display at the entrance, and not hide a unit/machine to one side.

The wife got a paking notice at our local Lidle said she'd been parked there 5 hours. What had happened is had visited that store twice in one day. If she hadn't kept her receipts she would have been snookered. Obviously they have a crapy camera system at that store. Be warned always get your receipt.

Surely there should be large signs explaining the need to validate the registration of the car in the car park.

Well I will not be going to ALDI from now on as there will be a queue at the parking notification screens during much of the day. What a faff making even more stress for shoppers.

No respect for their customers?

I have NEVER heard of such a Parking

Probably got a 10/15 minute allowance if unsuccessful in finding a space

Take a picture of the screen when you enter your car.I got two notices in two weeks in Macclesfield Cheshire.Had a hell of a time getting them cancelled and I’m a retired qualified enforcement officer parking and civil.What a palaver 🙈

If you’re a genuine shopper, keep your receipt as proof and you shouldn’t have to pay the fine !!!

Unless they make it blatantly obvious that you should follow a procedure for inputting your reg, how can they hope to enforce it? If they have ANPR, why not just give people 1 hour.

It also means whether they are new or old, that their signage isn't very obvious to say this has been installed

Imagine ... your life revolves around wether you parked somewhere you should or shouldn't...

I have just returned from holiday in Newquay. I used Aldi twice during my stay. Did not notice signs about registering my car reg but wouldn't of thought to look for any either. Have used the store frequently over the years without issues. I received two fines on my return home. Complained to Aldi and they have cancelled the fines after sending them copies of the till receipts. Now I will be more vigilant with all car parks.

DASHCAM! I have saved every single visit to ANY car park for 3 years now, EVEN IF I DIDN'T PARK DUE TO LACK OF SPACES!

" Innocent, until PROVEN guilty"? 🤔👍

My BETTER half attended an appointment at the Nuffield Hospital, its a private hospital. A few weeks later she had a parking ticket come through the post. This is a Private hospital where you would only go for an appointment and the place is kind of in the middle of nowhere, it not as if there is a Aldi or train station next door, that i could understand. She rang the main hospital desk and they got it cancelled. Its just a money making scheme for someone.

So many years back I went to park in my local hospital and got caught on the anpr going in. I couldn't find a space it the first park so went to another one. I didn't find one there either so left the hospital grounds and parked a little further away. About a month later I got a pcn from a parking company but ignored it because I hadn't parked in the hospital on that day (see above). Some time goes by and I get a threatening letter telling me I now owed however much it was, so phoned them to find out what it was all about. They said that I had parked in one of the hospital car parks for over 24 hours and so owed for the parking and also the fine as I hadn't paid the parking charges. I think it ended up I owed nearly 300. For some reason, they claimed they didn't have a picture of me leaving until the following day and so I owed them all this money. Luckily for me, back then I was a busy man and had receipts from another 2 parking lots as well as a receipt from West Midlands Safari Park for the time they claimed I was still in their parking lot. I sent them the original copies as they said they would only accept originals. They dropped the charges and magically found another 3 pictures of me both leaving the original parking lot, entering another and then leaving 5 or so minutes later. YAY for me I guess.

Surely there's an argument if they put these machines in, there has to be clear information that this new process is in place. If there is nothing clearly displayed at the store front TELLING you there has been a change to parking arrangements, how are you supposed to know?

Surely there should be big signs up everywhere informing people of the changes and the machines and how to use them.

My experience in court is Parking Companies lie in court and Judges believe them because it is easier than pursuing them for perjury.

This is something close to entrapment and should be investigated.

Surely the argument is that there is insufficient signage of these validation machines if you've only spotted the machine on your second visit.

Every where you go in the uk now you get charged. It seems every conpany wants to get as much money out of people as they can.

Moral of the story is....don't use these stores with ridiculous parking rules.

I used a car park to turn around, not realising it was one of these until I was already in it. I kept the dashcam footage just in case but it seems I was fine.

All this fleecing of motorists with parking, insurance, congestion charges, emissions charges etc. makes me glad I don't drive!

I've forgotten to put my number in at Aldi couple of times, but i keep my receipts for a few days and when i sent a copy of the bill to them, they waived the charge both times. That nice response is another thing that improves my opinion of Aldi.

My local Lidl have this. Fortunately the staff always hand over the receipt and say "here's your receipt for the parking".

I used to own a car park. It had ANPR cameras monitoring vehicles going in/out. It had a 10-minute grace period before a ticket was issued.

Life has become so tedious with ever increasing rules to abide by. Gives me a headache!

The problem is some car parks are so big that you can spend a long time driving around trying to find a place, so long that someone else might think you've had enough time to park, quickly do something in a shop, etc, and then leave the car park.

My local ALDI has this. They have two car parks, one main car park in front of the store and one to the side. Both have a maximum time of 90 minutes before you are charged. The one in front of the store requires you to log your registration while the one to the side doesn't. Last week, I couldn't find a space so I parked somewhere else. When I finished my shopping at ALDI I checked with the terminal and it had taken a picture so I logged my registration anyway just to be safe. As taxis are entering and leaving the main car park frequently to pick up shoppers, I think there must be a grace period to allow you to enter and leave before the clock starts ticking. There is a charge payable in both car parks if you go over 90 minutes.

To BBB , why are supermarkets doing this ? isnt the first 3 hours free? or is the intent in future to charge supermarket customer for parking ?

I got caught out last year when visiting an unfamiliar Aldi away from home. Luckily I still had the receipt. Aldi were extremely helpful when I rang them. They dealt with the parking enforcement company and had the charge cancelled.

Never shop anywhere that punishes you for visiting their place of business. Shoplift maybe, shop never.

We have one of these at our local Lidl. I wasn't aware of this the first time I went and got a PCN. I went back to the car park and checked. Firstly, there was a notice outside the car park, but it was only visible if you were approaching from the South - I had approached from the North and there was no visible sign. Secondly, there were signs in the car park, but they were quite small, and I showed that none of them were readable from where I parked. When I made it clear that I was prepared to go to court over this the demands disappeared. Note that the notices will come from a parking firm, but store managers did have discretion to dismiss them. If you still have proof of purchase from the store it's a route worth trying.

I had an Aldi car parking experience a few weeks ago. I tried to enter my car registration at a screen, its did not recognise my number plate twice, i spoke to a worker who said its ok you can leave. And 4 days later i received a fine. I returned to the store and after talking to the manager and asking to see the cctv footage of me at the screen She made a phone call and the fine was rescinded.

Is there not a legal requirement for there to be adequate signage to inform those parking there that they need to register their registration number? If not, I'd say there is a moral obligation.

And this is another good reason to get yourself a dashboard camera for your car. In case something like this happens where you go in a parking lot, cannot find space to park and go out, you should save the video of you doing so (from entry until exit showing you did not park in said parking lot). This will give you concrete evidence in case they decide to charge you and go to court after they refuse to cancel the charge.

I got one in a Wetherspoons car park and appealed giving my evidence of being a customer that day and claimed I thought I had entered my number plate and they cancelled the charge. They cannot guarantee that your entry was recorded and you get no receipt of entry.

Everyone moans about it but no-one has come up with a better alternative. Should shops provide free parking all day for non-customers?

They had this at our local Aldi be they removed it after customers complained.

One of our local gyms has a monitored car park. It’s next to a shopping centre so people were clogging our spaces up. We enter our reg on a screen in the gym. There are signs a-plenty to remind us though.

Shouldnt they have a notice up that says parking needs to be validated - if not does that void any possible contract?

Vigilant, very apt description. Using local Aldi as frequently as do I'm probably blind to any parking control change.

A pub near me has notice on the entrance door asking to enter the car reg. There is a school near by and cars come to pick up kids and some times use the car park.

All too difficult. They clearly don't want customers.

My Wife has just been done for overstaying at a car park . Went to pets at home, then had lunch at a McDonalds picking up an Iceland shop afterwards. £71.28 in Pets at home. £107.50 in Iceland , don’t know what the McDonalds cost as her Sister in Law got that. We’ve gone back and the site is plastered with the signs that she hadn’t noticed in years of shopping at Pets at home. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I would probably contest it as there’s no justification in my mind. As you say we have to be constantly aware of this type of thing.

Please STOP supporting shops using this system with exorbitant fines. If you keep shopping there, then you're part of the problem. Go to shops that do NOT punish you for visiting them.

My local hospital car park has a similar system. The camera logs your reg as you enter and you go to the machine when you are leaving and input your reg and pay. The person in front on me put her reg in and it said "we can't find your reg". Stick with me....she thought "ah I don't have to pay then". I informed her there is another button to push where you can enter your estimated stay time and pay. If you don't do that and later you get flagged and fined you have no excuse and have to pay it. That is just a tip so you don't get caught out.

Here is a real scenario for an EV driver. There is an EV charger in a car park of a supermarket / pub / whatever that's available for use 24/7. You visit out of hours to charge up to an open car park. You pull up, plug in and start you charge. At that point, you are a customer of the site and often, via an app or an RFID card, you are a registered user with address details, payment details, car make & model but not registration number, however, on plug & charge you cars VIN number is registered to enable auto-charge. You then walk away from your car to view the car park restrictions that are never by the charger, hard to read in the dark, if readable at all. This happened to me at a pub car park. The pub was closed and it was only when I left the site I found a sign saying that you cannot leave the site and registration details must be entered to the machine inside the closed pub. Luckily for me I didn't receive a notice, but many have. How is that treated in law? You are a customer, have clearly used & paid for the facilities, but cannot access the closed business to enter your registration details!

In my local Aldi the cashiers used to remind customers to enter their vehicle registrations at the checkout, however they stopped since the pandemic. There are a couple of signs outside informing customers of parking restrictions, stating 'only for Adli customers' and mentions a time limit, but nothing about needing to enter one's vehicle registration upon exit by scanning one's til receipt, but the screens are pretty obviously located. I can understand why, because people will inherently abuse what they consider free parking while shopping elsewhere, selfishly using parking bays reserved for genuine Aldi customers.

It’s to prevent non-customers abusing the customer parking. For example our local Aldi was overrun by cars from the local football club so genuine shoppers couldn’t park They say the signs posted in the car park constitute a contract. Read them carefully as leaving & returning within a certain time will also get you a PCN

The manager at Lidl told me the cameras give you a 10 minute grace period if you couldn`t find a parking space. He also said if you may have gone over the 10 min slightly he would give you a till receipt for £0 to scan in and validate your parking.

Our local Aldi has introduced a similar system. By sheer fluke, I happened to spot the machine where one registers on the way out, so I wasn't caught. But according to local social media, many others were not so fortunate. What do I think of such technology? That's difficult. Some stores have a real problem with people misusing their car parks while they shop elsewhere, so something has to be done if genuine would-be customers can't park there and end up going elsewhere. However, the signs need to be really prominent to prevent oversights, but that wasn't the case in my local Aldi. But to be fair, some people who got caught, returned with their receipts to prove they had shopped there and the parking charges were subsequently cancelled.

Here in Canada places like hospitals and medical clinics have entry gates. No mistaking that you are entering a pay area. There is usually a 15 minute window to leave again.

Wondering why they still prohibit the use of electric scooters. Man, I really wanted to come to Britain to live and work there. Wanted ...

Also proves that technology often fails and is not fit for purpose.

Its becoming a nightmare nowadays just to get a pint of milk !! I done a 3 point turn in a pub car park a few weeks ago & noticed 1 of these camera systems, in the torrential rain i had to get out & enter my details & put in £3 & got soaked. Also noticed these farce machines in a carpark where there was No spaces but felt obliged to go into the pub whilst blocking someone in just to put my details into the machine on the bar then left. However, I'd assume that the company ( or robot) would look at the entry & exit period of less than 5 minutes & possibly ignore it ! Knowing that you have to spend ages arguing on the phone to a deaf person overseas i just payed & left, i wasn't going to risk it.

ANPR cameras take your reg as you enter the car park, and as you leave so the system knows how long you have stayed. It therefore knows if you were just a “drive through”

I was told by a taxi driver that they refused to pick up at a local aldi because their firm got pcns when doing so due to cameras taking photos of car pulling in and out several minutes apart

What if you can't find a space but it takes you 30 minutes to leave due to the sheer number of cars looking for spaces and blocking the exit road ?

these cameras in the car park have become so dangerous it is just making money from private company.

Having been a parking enforcement officer awhile ago. I would say the rules I was made aware of are . Upon entering a site we have to give a minimum of 5>10 minutes grace to allow parking and payment.

When they first installed the camera system at my Aldi I was nearly caught out. In fact, if I'd gone out of either of the tills nearest the door I would have been. However I saw someone else registering their plate number and got curious. And curiosity saved me a fine. Every time since, that I've parked in that same Aldi, I've made a point of using the register. And every time it's shown me an image of my car, my car has been occupying a parking slot. I don't think unlucky motorists, not finding a spot, have anything to fear