Aldi number plate recognition?

[Chris S]

At Aldi on Coventry Road, Birmingham, you have to type your number into a computer plate to get free parking. I forgot to do it this morning.
Do systems like this have some sort of automated number plate recognition cameras or do they rely on somebody walking around with a keypad?

 

[pplpilot]

I know the very one, I used to call in on the way home from work at least 3 times a week, I have did exactly like you...

I did indeed receive a 'parking charge notice'

this was about a year ago when they first introduced this system.

Went into store with genuine explanation, didn't have receipt it was weeks later, they wasn't interested, So I binned the 'fine', never been back and never heard anything again...

 

[Crackle]

Drop back in and put the number in.

 

[Chris S]

[QUOTE 3876702, member: 45"]T'is automatic.

All is not lost. If you do get a letter there are ways of challenging it. Do you have the Aldi receipt?[/QUOTE]
Yes - I've still got it. Thanks.

 

[Chris S]

Drop back in and put the number in.

I thought of that when I was about 10 minutes down the road but it would have probably been too late..

 

[Crackle]

I thought of that when I was about 10 minutes down the road but it would have probably been too late..

I don't think so. I went twice a couple of times and only put the number in once with a few hours in between each visit. I'm guessing it being an automated system it just checks for time there and number.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

There's one at a local Lidl too. The reg gets photoed on the way in and you have to give your registration to the cashier and up pops a picture of your car and it's plate. Usually the cashiers remember to ask whether you are using the car park (even if you're clearly cycling). I'm not sure what happens if they forget to ask or the customer, preoccupied with the packing and paying, forgets to say. I suppose you get a parking fine demand in the post.

It all feels a bit too big brotherish for me, though it's quicker than a gated ticket system.

 

[jayonabike]

Another reason why I'll never set foot in in Aldi/lidl. You don't get this sort of thing going on at waitrose. At waitrose, on your way in your greeted with a machine offering free coffee.

 

[marknotgeorge]

They don't have this sort of thing at our local Krautmarkt, although one of the paid car parks in Burton has a similar system. Given that all three towns are along the A38, it seems to show that the closer you get to Bodmin, the closer you get to a police state...

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Another reason why I'll never set foot in in Aldi/lidl. You don't get this sort of thing going on at waitrose. At waitrose, on your way in your greeted with a machine offering free coffee.

Or, as at Waitrose, you can park for 2 hours if you spend £5. Still messing about with tickets at the checkout.

 

[jayonabike]

Or, as at Waitrose, you can park for 2 hours if you spend £5. Still messing about with tickets at the checkout.

Never been given a ticket at the waitrose, tescos, sainsburys where I live. Park up, shop, go home.

 

[Spoked Wheels]

Only a couple of weeks ago I got a letter demanding £70 for over staying my visit at Aldi then the penny dropped... I had forgotten to key the number plate. The letter showed my time of arrival and the time I left.... a total of 35 minutes. Fortunately I still had the receipt as it only happened 3 weeks before or so.
I took a picture of the letter and receipt and emailed Aldi at customer.service@aldi.co.uk 2 days later I got a reply saying they would ask the parking administration company to cancel the fine and they cancelled it.

Failing that I was prepared to sit tight and not pay it. I did write to the company and explained why I should not pay £70. I said that I forgot to enter my number plate and I did not overstayed. ... never got a reply from them. The legality of these fines is very questionable and lots of people are fighting them.

I was going to send a cheque for £1 as I considered that is the current rate for 1 hour parking in the area.

Edit:
After I got confirmation from the parking company that I was off the hook I wrote to Aldi to thank them and also to say I would never shop at Aldi again. That I was lucky to still have a receipt otherwise I would have had to pay the fine for 35 minutes of parking.

 

[Drago]

I had one of this once from a McDonald's of all places.

Wiped my arriss on it and chucked it in the bin, heard no more.

Unless they take you to Court, which is almost unheard of, just flush them down the pan.

 

[rich p]

I had one of this once from a McDonald's of all places.

Wiped my arriss on it and chucked it in the bin, heard no more.

Unless they take you to Court, which is almost unheard of, just flush them down the pan.

According to Moneysupermarket nobody has ever been successfully taken to court for one of these.
IIRC, they are only enforceable if the company itself, Aldi in this case, administers its own scheme. Third party enforcement has no legal standing. My wife got one inadvertently in a hospital car park when they changed the rules.
The advice was to ignore any letters and not to bother writing or to try mitigating. I did and after 2 or 3 letters they gave up.

 

[rb58]

£3.50 for 6 minutes parking at Gatwick North Terminal the other week.