Useful advice for ALDI shoppers

Dave Martin writes: "I do have some sympathy for your correspondent who was caught overstaying their welcome at ALDI in Nantwich, (Audlem Online news on 12th April) but in this case the changes were well publicised by banners around the car park, and leaflets by the check-outs. Having been caught by the system elsewhere, and done some research, the following info might be of use to others in Audlem who use ALDI car parks.

"The camera system is run by Parking Eye and, I believe, all the cash recovered goes to them, not ALDI. The retailer uses this firm to try to ensure their parking facilities are not abused. In my mind, there is a huge difference between an overstay of 10 minutes compared to 2 hours, but Parking Eye does not share this view!

"The driver who parks in the car park is assumed to have read the parking notices, and therefore accepted the terms and conditions. The important point here is that it is the car driver, not the registered car owner.

Having overstayed the time limit, the registered owner is issued with an invoice (not a fine) for parking services provided by Parking Eye: they assume the owner was the driver. The owner information is obtained from the DVLA for £2.50 per request. Whether DVLA are infringing the Data Protection Act by selling this data appears not to have been challenged.

"The car owner has no legal responsibility to inform Parking Eye who was driving the car. If the registered owner was not driving the car, then it's "nowt to do with me", and they can ignore Parking Eye letters. There will no doubt be several! Usually about 10 days after the initial invoice was issued, a reminder is sent (stressing the discounted £40 charge), with timed copies of the photos of the car arriving at, and then leaving the car park. These are of poor quality, and struggle to identify the number plate, and certainly not the driver.

I would not encourage people to lie, but do be prepared to stand up for yourself!

"If you believe you are being unfairly charged, it would appear that the best approach is to simply not get involved with Parking Eye, but ignore all letters from them. Arguing the toss may get stressful!"

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