Now I always park way away from the herd in supermarket car parks as I am capable of walking some yards unaided plus I hate my car getting dinged. I regularly return to find another car parked so close to mine that I have to get in the passenger side in an otherwise deserted area of the car park but thats another discussion.
Camberley Tescos have outsourced the car park management to a third party firm. There are huge signs up saying that the 'child parking section' regulations will be strictly enforced and fines issued to transgressors.
What is the legal status of these fines?
I don't know the fine amounts but lets say £50, this is vastly in excess of any economic damage to Tescos if any.
If I received such a ticket and took it to court they would need to prove I parked without a child (CCTV footage?) but how can they defend the cost of the fine?
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Hi Thommo
Many of these privately issued tickets are unenforceable, it revolves around the law of contract, whether or not the contract is enforceable (most are not) and whether the terms of the contract for parkong are reasonable (many are not).
Additionally many of these private companies shoot themselves in the foot with the signage or ticket wording and many do not want their "contracts" examined in a civil court.
Plenty of advice in the Pepipoo parking ticket forum here
tinyurl.com/om8lc
As always
Mark
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sorry clickable link is here
tinyurl.com/om8lc
regards
Mark
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>>What is the legal status of these fines?
Interesting question.
Personally I would have thought they would have more of a fear factor than any likelyhood of just placing a ticket on the car. If however if they fitted a clamp and charged £50 to remove it, then yes they would change people's habits. Probably find in the first instance the attendant would have a chat with the transgressor to stop them parking in the child parking section.
On the otherhand, the manager of Tesco's would rather not have anything to divert his customers away from his store. Maybe there have been a number of drivers abusing Tesco's free parking and thinking they can use it however they like - despite it being private property.
I await a greater authority than me to give a full legal answer.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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I would flash my Tesco clubcard at the manager of the store and tell him that my nearest Sainsbury's is only one mile away by motorway (it is for me).
I'm sure he will get the message.
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Have I missed something? Are you saying you would use the parent + child spaces when you are child-free?
I would have though some enforcement around special spaces and for that matter the 'pick up zone' would be welcomed by those of us who are socially responsible. At one supermarket recently I saw a car take the last disabled space and 4 teenagers get out (no badge).
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I wonder what their definition of a child is? Up to 10? 12? 16?
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We are all the child of our parents.
Even at 55.
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I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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An Asda store I've visited used Local Authority wardens by introducing a TRO on the disabled parking bays. This brings the disabled parking bays under the jurisdication of the Council so fines are legal.
tinyurl.com/m2y8m
Has your Tesco done something similar?
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ISTR the local Morrisons went atter those in the 'child' bays and ticketed those without child seats.
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That's not too clever. Our current car seat comes out and fits in the trolley!
The other week I pulled in to the last 'parent and child' parking at my local Morrisons, I was the only one in the car. As I got out a woman in a car behind wound her window down and expressed her dissatisfaction. What she didn't know at the time was that I'd dropped my wife and daughter off, went to put fuel in and was going back in to pick them up. After this info she sheepishly wound her window up and drove off!
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As there is no mention or scope of a "mother and child" bay in any road traffic act or praking regulation, then they can not single you out for the abuse of such.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Round our way they don't seem to be bothered about the mother/Child/disabled lot. You can't park anywhere for longer than two hours.
It's the daily commuters who take the train to London which is just opposite the Tesco's site. They can save the £5 a day or what not it costs to park at the station.
Funny thing is that Tesco's should have known about this when they sited themselves in town.
To be honest that ain't that many commuters so you would have thought the marginal revenue of people stopping in on their way back home would overcome this problem........
Still there are still plenty of jobsworths out there who would love to stick tickets on people......
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Good answers! I suppose they should say 'minor', not 'child'.
Rather like the "10 items or less", which ought to be "10 items or fewer"
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As I thought, more a threat than a real legal issue. Paid by the gullible and easily frightened no doubt.
One further thought. Could they try and threaten to ruin your credit rating due to an 'unpaid' fine?
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Hi Thommo
You have uncovered their methodology quite quickly here.
Most private parking operates on the basis you accept or form a contract by parking. Most of these contracts are unfair, contradictory or badly worded and displayed. Often the ticket looks very similar to an offical ticket and the hope is as you state very much you will roll over and cough up.
These tickets are ofetn accompanied by threats to damage your credit rating by passing your details to a debt agency and work on a rapidly rising escalator of cost if you ignore the ticket as they add dubious penalties, charges and interest.
The letters they send can constitute harrasment and be reported to BIB under fairly recent legislation.
The whole thing is a scam and in a mess as pointed out over at Pepipoo in the parking ticket forum.
Many of these private companies will back down rather than have their contracts examined in court as losing a claim will prove they have an invalid or unfair contact they cannot enforce.
As always
Mark
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One of our Tescos is 200 yards from one of our hospitals-need I say more.
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One of our Tescos is 200 yards from one of our hospitals-need I say more.
Do you live in Ashford?
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Whilst at a store in Woking , then with only a 2 year old, a guy parked next to me and got out.
When I mentioned his son, around 12, hardly met the criteria of "parent and baby bays, the volume of abuse showed he knew how wrong he was. Some people are just ignorant, it wasn't even the closest available bay.
Just to inform those who question the need for "P AND B Bays" when you have kids, especially more than one, it is safer to have the trolley close enough to put the goods away and put the kids in safely, so please just like you hopefully wouldn't use a disabled bay, unless you were, please don't use the "P AND B bays"
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In the 1970s my Mother used to push me miles to the shops, and then miles home with all the shopping hanging off the handles. No wonder todays children are so fat and unhealthy and slit their wrists when they get to 13.
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Kids must have got bigger since I had mine - never had P&B bays in my day. Fortunately, maybe surprisingly, the kids survived to tell the tale.
Oh, and while we are talking kids and supermarkets, why oh why do parents think it's fine to let their offspring run around screaming, and handling food with their grubby paws? But that's for another forum... :-)
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On the contrary I should think they can do what they like within reason in their car park, subject to proper notices.
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Returning to the theme of the thread.
An associate of mine got a ticket for leaving his car at a well known oil company's filling station close to Gatwick airport.
Although he was - I understand - parked while buying a paper and a cup of coffee he received a notice through the post informing him that he had been filmed on CCTV and "penalising" him £150, which would be reduced to £75 if he paid within 2 weeks.
He protested to the enforcement company and they reduced the fee to £65.
I would very seriously doubt whether this is legal, it might be worth calling their bluff and issuing a few threats of our own!
I have looked at PePiPoo and it isn't really very conclusive.
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It may or may not be enforcable - I don't see that it matters really. It's their car park, they can make whatever rules they want as far as I am concerned. As far as I can see, they are trying to make it easier and safer for a section of their customers they value. Nothing wrong with that. What's the big deal? Very simple, if you don't have young kids, don't park in the very small number of marked bays and you won't have to find out about what is and is not enforable. It's not as if they scatter these spaces randomly across the car park to catch you out - they are usually very clearly marked.
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