Parking violation in privately managed Sainsbury’s car park

Delboyarapaho

Delboyarapaho

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We managed to pick up a parking violation in a Sainsbury’s car park in cramlington last week. It seems that particular car park is privately managed by excel parking and their Ts and cs prohibit motorhomes and caravans from parking or anyone not parking within the marked lines.
Our Moho is 8.5m long so that poses us a problem.
Firstly I would like to notify members that they should be aware of the potential issue when using privately managed supermarket car parks and secondly has anyone successfully appealed such a violation and if so what arguments did they use please.
 
Delboyarapaho said:
We managed to pick up a parking violation in a Sainsbury’s car park in cramlington last week. It seems that particular car park is privately managed by excel parking and their Ts and cs prohibit motorhomes and caravans from parking or anyone not parking within the marked lines.
Our Moho is 8.5m long so that poses us a problem.
Firstly I would like to notify members that they should be aware of the potential issue when using privately managed supermarket car parks and secondly has anyone successfully appealed such a violation and if so what arguments did they use please.
Click to expand...
Ignore all demands..
They will probably end up "threatening" you with court proceedings...IGNORE"
It will only be a threat to bully/intimidate you into coughing up..
It will cost them more to serve court summons than they will get back..
 
P.S.
Contact supermarket and explain that their draconian car park company is costing the supermarket LOTS of money by excluding mohos, and caravans.
How many mohos do you see when in a supermarket carpark...
Sometimes quite a few.. all getting shopping for a few days.
 
It's a parking charge notice you received, effectively an invoice for parking, not a parking penalty notice which can only be issued by a traffic warden or police.
I received one a few years ago and there I found there was a lot of conflicting info on whether to pay up or ignore.
Some ignored and got away with it, other found themselves with a court summons. I decided to pay up (about 30 quid, so not a lot) as I just didn't want the hassle.
Are you sure they don't allow motorhomes ? the requirement to park within bays is quite common but not seen the no motorhomes before.
Definately check the signage as there are strict requirements

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I would contact the Management of the supermarket and point out to them the
impossibility of complying with the T&C's of the parking Co.

Ask them to rescind the ticket under pain of losing your custom, BUT SMILE!!!
through gritted teeth if necessary.
 
I called at sainsbury in Devizes and they refund your parking ticket with your reciept but do remember the time was quite short
I after reading the sign moved my van so the bike overhung a dead end paved corner space
Ignore by all means but are you willing to pay up if it goes to court and you loose. Many of these firms now issuse automatically and win because the defendant dies not turn up
 
Is this Parking Eye ??

If you are going to contest the ticket here are some 'rules'

Under no circumstances are you to communicate via phone with them.
They will get your land line number and they will call and make threats.
They must never actually talk to 'you' on the phone, be the cleaner, be the lodger in your house, never be 'you'.
They may well obtain your mobile number. same rules apply, if you get a call from a number you do not recognise and they ask if it's you, say no, wrong number.

Under no circumstances do you have an email address.
You do not have access to the internet.

The ONLY way you communicate with them is via letter.
Companies are no longer geared up to deal with letters, they don't have post rooms and processes any more.
Which means that it costs them several pounds to deal with a letter.

To increase their letter process costs:
Envelopes are to be hand written, addresses as 'personal' for the MD only (get the name from companies house)
All letters are to the MD directly.
It means the most expensive person in the entire company is wasting their valuable time and the time of their secretary in dealing with your issue.
It means that as a minimum you are using up the time of at least 4 people for each and every letter.

Do not have your return address on it (It means they have to pay the DVLA to get your address)

Never answer all the questions on one go, do this over multiple letters, send as far apart in time as possible.

If you have several reason as to why you should not pay (signage, times, size of vehicle, etc) do not list all the reasons in one letter, do it over time, each letter containing a different reason

Also refer to previous letters, but never give details of letters, means someone has to search through to find them.

Never give your full name if they have called you "A B Smith' then that is what you call yourself, in fact maybe slightly misspell your own surname.

If you are forced to make a payment, do so by cheque, and if you can make it a penny short it mucks up their accounts system

Always leave any reply until the last possible day of reply, but date your letter a few days before.

Also add a clause on the bottom of every letter to say that your time is charge at £60 ph or part thereof

Put "E&OE" discreetly on the top or bottom of every letter

If you can, print the letters on blue paper, it means they can not be scanned, which means they have to rely on paper filing, which is also something modern companies are no longer able to do.

Keep copies of every letter

Be prepared for this to drag on for months

Be totally prepared to take it to court.

The idea is that even if they do win in the end, the cost to them will be greater than the money they receive.
A "Pyric Victory"
 
These operators make a living out of this and can increment matters confident that they will recover all costs following referral to a debt recovery agent & bailiffs if necessary. For peace of mind I’d pay it, I don’t see what grounds you have to challenge it?
 
Last edited:
poppycamper said:
Ignore all demands..
They will probably end up "threatening" you with court proceedings...IGNORE"
It will only be a threat to bully/intimidate you into coughing up..
It will cost them more to serve court summons than they will get back..
Click to expand...

poppycamper said:
P.S.
Contact supermarket and explain that their draconian car park company is costing the supermarket LOTS of money by excluding mohos, and caravans.
How many mohos do you see when in a supermarket carpark...
Sometimes quite a few.. all getting shopping for a few days.
Click to expand...

+1 on both these (y)

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I was advised to decline to say who was driving as they then cannot proceed.

In reality we challenged the veracity of their claim and used an arbitration service.

This agency contacted them for proof, the parking company did not provide snd so the case was dismissed
 
I got done by parking eye in june as someone had not put the info into the computer
1phone to site
Email to site manger as requested
Payment request cancelled
They already had my address to send the initial charge.
2 weeks later letter from parking Eye saying it was cancelled
Brains i hate to say this but if the charge arrives through the post they already have all the information you are saying to withhold.
As it is sainsbury the signage where I was in Devizes was very clear. (Not the car park charge I acquired it was elsewher)
I could be wrong but I think they use contract law to.persue parking charges
But don't hold me to that I have not confirmed the info
 
Write to Simon Roberts CEO. J Sainsbury Head Office, 33 Holborn, London and complain bitterly as mentioned above. If you are a regular JS customer put in your Nectar Card Number so they can see how much you spend, and put in that you will never use JS again as they are discriminating against persons in motorhomes contrary to the equality act. Also put in that how nice it is to visit the Penzance branch where they have made spaces specifically for motorhomes. (The fact that they are always full of damned commercial van's is neither here or there!) They need to review their contract with the parking operator to ensure that the terms of Equality Act are met.

It works. I got told I couldn't stop in the Calcot store parking our moho in a disabled space with a blue badges as other customers complain! I am a veteran of the JS group, and helped put that store up in 1983. If other customers are complaining that is there problem.
 
meanders said:
Write to Simon Roberts CEO. J Sainsbury Head Office, 33 Holborn, London and complain bitterly as mentioned above. If you are a regular JS customer put in your Nectar Card Number so they can see how much you spend, and put in that you will never use JS again as they are discriminating against persons in motorhomes contrary to the equality act. Also put in that how nice it is to visit the Penzance branch where they have made spaces specifically for motorhomes. (The fact that they are always full of damned commercial van's is neither here or there!) They need to review their contract with the parking operator to ensure that the terms of Equality Act are met.

It works. I got told I couldn't stop in the Calcot store parking our moho in a disabled space with a blue badges as other customers complain! I am a veteran of the JS group, and helped put that store up in 1983. If other customers are complaining that is there problem.
Click to expand...
JS may not own the carpark. As is the case in Devizes hence they pay the parking tick at the till
 
Firstly am so dory for you. We live in Cramlington and wasn’t aware of this but surprised as it is a tight entrance for a long vehicle. Sincerest sympathy with you.

Secondly and to comment on all those who say to ignore.

My son did this a few yearns ago with one of these companies. Every now and then they decide to take it all the way. He decided to do so too.

Well all I will say is that while the judge had a great deal of sympathy with him, on the basis of the law he lost and it cost him an awful lot of money.

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poppycamper said:
P.S.
Contact supermarket and explain that their draconian car park company is costing the supermarket LOTS of money by excluding mohos, and caravans.
How many mohos do you see when in a supermarket carpark...
Sometimes quite a few.. all getting shopping for a few days.
Click to expand...
Very few if any in this car park as it’s entrance is very tight for long vehicles. I wouldn’t take a motorhome more than 6m into it.
 
Last edited:
Brains said:
Is this Parking Eye ??

If you are going to contest the ticket here are some 'rules'

Under no circumstances are you to communicate via phone with them.
They will get your land line number and they will call and make threats.
They must never actually talk to 'you' on the phone, be the cleaner, be the lodger in your house, never be 'you'.
They may well obtain your mobile number. same rules apply, if you get a call from a number you do not recognise and they ask if it's you, say no, wrong number.

Under no circumstances do you have an email address.
You do not have access to the internet.

The ONLY way you communicate with them is via letter.
Companies are no longer geared up to deal with letters, they don't have post rooms and processes any more.
Which means that it costs them several pounds to deal with a letter.

To increase their letter process costs:
Envelopes are to be hand written, addresses as 'personal' for the MD only (get the name from companies house)
All letters are to the MD directly.
It means the most expensive person in the entire company is wasting their valuable time and the time of their secretary in dealing with your issue.
It means that as a minimum you are using up the time of at least 4 people for each and every letter.

Do not have your return address on it (It means they have to pay the DVLA to get your address)

Never answer all the questions on one go, do this over multiple letters, send as far apart in time as possible.

If you have several reason as to why you should not pay (signage, times, size of vehicle, etc) do not list all the reasons in one letter, do it over time, each letter containing a different reason

Also refer to previous letters, but never give details of letters, means someone has to search through to find them.

Never give your full name if they have called you "A B Smith' then that is what you call yourself, in fact maybe slightly misspell your own surname.

If you are forced to make a payment, do so by cheque, and if you can make it a penny short it mucks up their accounts system

Always leave any reply until the last possible day of reply, but date your letter a few days before.

Also add a clause on the bottom of every letter to say that your time is charge at £60 ph or part thereof

Put "E&OE" discreetly on the top or bottom of every letter

If you can, print the letters on blue paper, it means they can not be scanned, which means they have to rely on paper filing, which is also something modern companies are no longer able to do.

Keep copies of every letter

Be prepared for this to drag on for months

Be totally prepared to take it to court.

The idea is that even if they do win in the end, the cost to them will be greater than the money they receive.
A "Pyric Victory"
Click to expand...
Is this serious ?
 
Do check the signage very carefully, I've dealt with a couple of these and on both the signage was slightly ambiguous and that is all you need. If they ban motorhomes remember you have a motorcaravan and then there's the ambiguity. You need some nerve and time and also to enjoy a fight. I threatened them with the court to decide if their signs are clear enough and that's the last I heard from them.
 
Figaro said:
It's the way to go if you're going to challenge it
Click to expand...
It’s the one attitude that would annoy me and want to take it all the way to make an example of the person. Take the proverbial and reap the anger.

Sometimes it’s not good to annoy people.

See my earlier post. My son challenged and in better circumstances and he lost. Cost him a lot of money. Judge had sympathy but ruled on law.

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Last edited:
BikerGraham said:
It’s the one attitude that would annoy me and want to take it all the way to make an example of the person. Take the proverbial and reap the anger.

Sometimes it’s not good to annoy people.

See my earlier post. My son challenged and in better circumstances and he lost. Cost him a lot of money. Nudge had sympathy but rules on law.
Click to expand...
I'm not disagreeing, I paid my charge notice a few years ago. After research and considering what to do, I just couldn't be bothered with the potential hassle for the sake of 30 quid.
 
We had the same at leisure world cinema complex in Southampton I think it was parking Eye . They introduced a thing where you needed to log your reg inside the cinema. It turns out it was written on a sign in mini small print in the carpark .
We received an official looking penalty notice for £100 .
On researching it it turns out to be a speculative invoice looking like a parking fine.You
don’t have to pay it, We told them we weren’t going to pay it and they said as a sign of goodwill this time they would recind it this time.
Just tell them to Foxtrot Oscar . I’m not sure its worth their time chasing people that won’t roll over and pay straight away.
Good luck
 
Will a ’Van with windows’ get away with parking here ?
 
Brains said:
Is this Parking Eye ??

If you are going to contest the ticket here are some 'rules'

Under no circumstances are you to communicate via phone with them.
They will get your land line number and they will call and make threats.
They must never actually talk to 'you' on the phone, be the cleaner, be the lodger in your house, never be 'you'.
They may well obtain your mobile number. same rules apply, if you get a call from a number you do not recognise and they ask if it's you, say no, wrong number.

Under no circumstances do you have an email address.
You do not have access to the internet.

The ONLY way you communicate with them is via letter.
Companies are no longer geared up to deal with letters, they don't have post rooms and processes any more.
Which means that it costs them several pounds to deal with a letter.

To increase their letter process costs:
Envelopes are to be hand written, addresses as 'personal' for the MD only (get the name from companies house)
All letters are to the MD directly.
It means the most expensive person in the entire company is wasting their valuable time and the time of their secretary in dealing with your issue.
It means that as a minimum you are using up the time of at least 4 people for each and every letter.

Do not have your return address on it (It means they have to pay the DVLA to get your address)

Never answer all the questions on one go, do this over multiple letters, send as far apart in time as possible.

If you have several reason as to why you should not pay (signage, times, size of vehicle, etc) do not list all the reasons in one letter, do it over time, each letter containing a different reason

Also refer to previous letters, but never give details of letters, means someone has to search through to find them.

Never give your full name if they have called you "A B Smith' then that is what you call yourself, in fact maybe slightly misspell your own surname.

If you are forced to make a payment, do so by cheque, and if you can make it a penny short it mucks up their accounts system

Always leave any reply until the last possible day of reply, but date your letter a few days before.

Also add a clause on the bottom of every letter to say that your time is charge at £60 ph or part thereof

Put "E&OE" discreetly on the top or bottom of every letter

If you can, print the letters on blue paper, it means they can not be scanned, which means they have to rely on paper filing, which is also something modern companies are no longer able to do.

Keep copies of every letter

Be prepared for this to drag on for months

Be totally prepared to take it to court.

The idea is that even if they do win in the end, the cost to them will be greater than the money they receive.
A "Pyric Victory"
Click to expand...

Excel parking as stated in post #1
 
Last edited:
They're all bullies

I parked in a £1 all day car park

Completely forgot to buy a ticket, thought i'll do it on the way back but didn't

I remembered an hour later so went back and bought one , ticket covers 00.00 - 23:59

Invoice for £60
Appealed with evidence of ticket
Appeal denied with threat of doubling the invoice to £120 if I went to popla and lost
Appealed to popla and they withdrew their claim

You can't just ignore them any more , I was told there's a fast track court in Northampton that's been set up to deal with any they take to court

If it gets as far as court it's pretty likely they'll win , in the OPs situation i'd just pay it as they have contravened the parking rules

I dont see what grounds they have as a defence in court , sign reads no motorhomes , they parked a motorhome

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As with all parking (private or council) the watchword is check the rules first, especially when in an oversized vehicle, and if in doubt go elsewhere.
It is up to the car park owner what rules they set. In a tight car park (as mentioned in earlier posts) restrictions on large vehicles can be for safety reasons as much as anything.
With supermarkets I used to go in to customer services and check, saying that if we were not allowed to park we would simply shop at a rival. Never got refused.
Since the Beavis Case was decided private car park management companies usually ensure that their signage is adequate so will probably win if they are determined to.
 
There is some terrible advice on this thread I am afraid. The T&C’s of parking are clear Motorhomes aren’t allowed. They weren’t followed and so the OP was invoiced.

The court would rule in favour of the parking company if they took you to court.

These companies are faceless crooks who operate just within the law, ignoring it and refusing to pay might work, chances are it won’t.

Yes it sucks, but court is an expensive high risk game for an individual.
 
Check on Martin Lewis Money Savers website and he explains clearly the two types of charging fines and lists most of the companies as well. He also advises on which ones you should pay and which ones are worth fighting and how to do it. Most loopholes have now closed though. I read about it recently after son left his car in a car park over night like he’d done many times before but there’d been a change of ownership. He was in the wrong but he’d not noticed the the new regs alongside the new machine!
 
As per Wack post go via POPLA if you think you have genuine grounds to challenge. They are an independent body to settle disputes. They had my daughter’s charge thrown out but we had a genuine reason to believe it was not correct and there was a significant body of evidence to suggest that issuing erroneous fines was a regular occurrence at this car park. Saying that, it was thrown out because the company refused to engage with POPLA not because they found in our favour.

I paid a previous fine where we were in the wrong. Complained to the store with no effect and didn’t shop there for years afterwards. I do now as the car park is no longer managed by the external company that charged £60 for being 10 minutes over due to a disabled relative needing a rest on the way back to the car.
 
Delboyarapaho said:
We managed to pick up a parking violation in a Sainsbury’s car park in cramlington last week. It seems that particular car park is privately managed by excel parking and their Ts and cs prohibit motorhomes and caravans from parking or anyone not parking within the marked lines.
Our Moho is 8.5m long so that poses us a problem.
Firstly I would like to notify members that they should be aware of the potential issue when using privately managed supermarket car parks and secondly has anyone successfully appealed such a violation and if so what arguments did they use please.
Click to expand...
Here's all the advice you need - I suggest you ignore some of the "wilder" suggestions below, a mixture of folklore and fantasy that could cost you more than paying the fine and putting it down to experience . . .

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Appealing a parking ticket

How to appeal a parking charge notice, penalty charge notice or fixed penalty notice in England and Wales.
www.citizensadvice.org.uk www.citizensadvice.org.uk

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