Big Brother clocks car park cheats

Neal Keeling

March 22, 2008

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Sainsbury's in Regent Road, Salford.

A `BIG BROTHER' operation is being used to deter car park cheats at a supermarket who could face a £70 fine.

Sainsbury's are using their store at Salford to trial a scheme which may be used nationwide.

Drivers who enter the vast car park at Regent Road, Ordsall, have to go past a device which identifies and flashes up the registration number of their car on a screen.

The screen also informs them that they have up to three hours parking but anyone leaving their vehicle beyond that time risks being penalised. When cars leave the car park the registration number is again shown on a screen at the exit - and it details how long the vehicle has been in the car park.

If drivers have stayed more than the three hours they are sent a warning letter by Euro Car Parks, who manage the car park for Sainsbury's.

The owners are traced by matching the registration with details of owners held by the DVLA licensing authority.

If vehicles found using the car park for more than three hours are caught a second time the owners are issued with a £70 fine.

The company says that so far it has not had to impose any fines after running the scheme for several weeks, but some warning letters have been sent out.

A spokeswoman for Sainsbury's said: "The car park trial has been very successful and we have had no complaints from customers. Three hours allows plenty of time for customer to do their shopping.

"The system is also seen as deterrent to criminals. In the past shoppers at the store have been targeted by carjackers and the store has been robbed. Data about registration numbers and who owned the vehicle was only kept when the three-hour rule had been breached. In January Asda said shoppers across Greater Manchester will face fines of £60 for parking in disabled and parent and child spaces when they shouldn't."

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jomov, Manchester (22/03/2008 at 09:41)

mmmm my only concern would be if customers decided, once their shop at Sainsbury's has been done, to take a walk over to the over selection of stores, ie Argos, all car parks are very busy at times and would expect this to be a reasonable thing to do.

ace, manchester (22/03/2008 at 13:26)

I have watched customers at tesco in droyleden, park their cars and walk into droylesden precinct to save 20p parking fees? How pathetic can you be.

Pippa, Manchester (22/03/2008 at 14:52)

Ace, Droylsden - I agree 20p, why bother ? However, that also begs the same question of Tameside council. 20p why bother? It's killed Droylsden Market quite succesfully. Surely it costs more than 20p to issue the damn ticket anyway.

Mark Spencer, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. (22/03/2008 at 15:12)

It now cost upto £2.00 for 2 hours in Tameside. You have to punch in your registration number (just to make it easier for them to check). They have just upped the prices and hope they will bring in an extra £56,000 for the council. Not if the motorist think they are being ripped off they wont!

S P In exile, Tameside (23/03/2008 at 05:39)

Has the law been changed I was always led to believe that we the public were protected by the data protection act. Why is it that a private company has access to data like the DVLA surely this is illegal.

I didn’t think any Tom, Dick or Harry had access to the data that is stored for police and DVLA use. I seem to remember a policeman who had to resign from the force for finding a car details and ownership through Swansea not to long ago, so if he cannot use the computer for finding details how is it a private company can.

Calamity (23/03/2008 at 16:38)

The despicable DVLA are selling our details for £2.50 a time to these cowboys. They ought to be shot!

Mark Spencer, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. (23/03/2008 at 18:34)

The DVLA will sell the details of the owner/keeper to anyone who has a legitimate reason. They won't sell them 'cause you saw a georgous looking blonde - unless that same blonde wiped the bumper off your car in a private car park and did a "runner". It's the same if these companies who have a claim for none payment or you infringe their rule.

There was a case last week when a District Judge threw out a case from one of these "rip off merchants" saying that their charges were: designed to frighten and intimidate rather than recover reasonable costs - So there is hope!!!!

Professor Bob (23/03/2008 at 21:31)

They cannot fine you,only Invoice you and you DO NOT have to pay by law.You can refuse to pay and ignore any threat about the courts.

ace, manchester (24/03/2008 at 09:24)

Pippa, Manchester
20p isnt the end of the world if you complain about 20p for parking you shouldnt be driving a car.i think these stores are right to charge people for parking after a certain time .these car parks have to be maintained.WELL DONE TO THE STORES.

ace, manchester (24/03/2008 at 11:50)

Professor Bob
You can be taken to court and charged for the use of the space (private action)We need this sort of action or people could start parking on your drive at home or even park on any bit of space that isnt used? surely if the land dosnt belong to you,you should expect to pay to park?

Mark Spencer, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire. (24/03/2008 at 12:29)

Ace,
It is an offence to park on private land without the owner permission, it is also an offence to park in front of your drive if you have a dropped kerb without you permission - Military vehicles are exempt!

Pippa, Manchester (24/03/2008 at 13:28)

ACe, you misunderstand. If I use Droylsden precinct, I do pay the 20p charge. But it isn't the shops who benefit - it is a council car park - ask any of the shopworkers who have to park elsewhere as the maximum stay is 3 hours and the other council pay and display cark park has been closed for sometime now due to building works. All I was saying is that it must cost the council more than 20p to issue each ticket and employ the very vigilan warden who patrols the car park. Funny how it's only in recent years that charges were levied.

LookingForLogic, Stockport (25/03/2008 at 03:01)

Major shops & their car parks are not run by the local council & are therefore a law unto themselves. They need government guidelies put into place before they can prove their 'convictions'. Private land has a different legal view than publicly owned land, we shouldn't expect private companies to hold our details for proof of where our vehicle was, let alone consider such a high fine when security costs are not listed among our rights to park in a particular place.

The Bobelesque, MANCHESTER (25/03/2008 at 08:45)

These private parking merchants send you an invoice not a legal 'fine'. You can ignore it (regardless of the threats) as they will never take you to court to recover the money.

ace, manchester (25/03/2008 at 10:39)

The Bobelesque, MANCHESTER
So are you going to pay the fines if anybody gets taken to court???Always say you never know.

ace, manchester (25/03/2008 at 10:43)

LookingForLogic, Stockport
So in your world shops have to make parking spaces just for the shopper?and they have to maintain and insure the land,free of cost.These stores are fed up with people using their carparks for free parking whhile the customer shops elsewhere.if you park in a stores carpark you should expect to get charged if you shop elsewhere.

polkyb (26/03/2008 at 11:43)

I for one will not be visiting the stores or car parks of the companies who will, as a consequence of my just pulling into the car park, have access to my personal details, courtesy of the Government.

There is a petition aginst this sort of thing here

petitions.pm.gov.uk/TescoANPR/

This is yet another case of the government not taking your personal details seriously and it HAS to stop.

The Bobelesque, MANCHESTER (26/03/2008 at 12:12)

ace: I suggest you do a bit of research on these companies and their operations. They are not the knights in shining armour, defending mother/baby spots and disabled parking bays. They are quasi-legal money takers.

They can be safely ignored.

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