New Lidl car park system. Invoices by default?

[technogogo]

I haven't seen this before. Every car is number plate scanned on the way in. You have to give your reg number at the till to avoid being invoiced. It is fair enough in theory but I can think of many scenarios where people may get caught out. For instance if the car park is full, like it nearly was today, most people loop around head to Tesco 200 yards up the road. I sense trouble ahead!

Edited by technogogo on Sunday 30th August 15:28

[technogogo]

Well firstly keeping non customers out is perfectly valid. But even as a Lidl customer myself this new approach seems to put things well beyond fairness by not taking into consideration instances that do not constitute parking. For instance, a potential shopper, perhaps the most loyal Lidl shopper in the country, drives into car park. There are no spaces. They leave. At this point it seems certain they will get a demand for money though the post. It isn't clear if the system logs entry and exit times as other systems do? The way it is being used doesn't seem to require two times. Just arrival? Hence my interest. Next time I am in the store I'll ask. I only popped in for a couple of items today so didn't want to hang around.

This seems to be a sort of escalation in the private parking wars. Perhaps spurred by that pivotal court decision a short while ago?

[technogogo]

Clearly I am not keeping up. Thx for the update. I'll head over to Peppi wotsit. It has been a while.

[technogogo]

Also... One more reason to get a dashcam. Counter cctv with cctv.

[technogogo]

Kateg28 said:

Am I missing the point of this thread?

Went to Aldi yesterday, did my shopping, and then entered my reg no at the till and then drove home. No drama and no charges because I was using the supermarket's own car park to shop in their store. I am flummoxed what the issue is? The car park was nice and empty as it was occupied by customers rather than shoppers using the main shopping centre across the road. Perfect solution if you ask me.

Btw 1 hour in Aldi? I did it in about 20 minutes and I am a woman, and we can shop! What were you doing for an hour?

My point in creating the thread is that the new system, I'd not seen *exactly* this type of implementation before, has some edge cases. It doesn't scale up well. So I wondered how prevalent it was becoming. (Not the various car park controls but this 'by default' method in particular.)

So edge cases are where a system fails because someone didn't foresee an event or behaviour. So your example isn't an edge case. The day you park up, walk into the store, grab some items and then realise you forgot your purse, head back to the car to drive home to get it... then you get an invoice and have to prove you were a genuine customer. That is an edge case. As I say above, I'm assuming that if this happens a person could not get the invoice cancelled without undue hassle. For all I know the store are prepared to take their word for it? But the receipt of a demand for money in this circumstance would still arrive and would still cause most people a degree of stress. I suspect many would think it easier to pay than to argue the point?

One other aspect... the store is off St Aldhelm's Road in Poole. If you check out google maps you see that the entrance to the car park is not marked. If you drive past a certain point on this road you are flagged as subject to an invoice even if you are just turning round. It just seems fundamentally unfair to me. It is literally a financial trap that will trap the unwary.

On the plus side, they have a clever system at the till. You just need to give the first couple of characters of your reg number and it immediately shows an image of your car arriving somewhere near the entrance to the car park. So it is a fairly quick process IF you know the first couple of characters.

[technogogo]

LoonR1 said:

Nothing. Nothing happens. This isn't a national roll out. This isn't happening everywhere. this is one PH poster coming up with a comment that may or may not be true.

Prone to hyperbole?

No not quite. This was me asking if this new system is in use anywhere else? I described the system. Described how it may trap the innocent, unwary. Then asked the question about its use elsewhere. If nowhere else is using this then I'm very happy.

[technogogo]

LoonR1 said:

technogogo said:

My point in creating the thread is that the new system, I'd not seen *exactly* this type of implementation before, has some edge cases. It doesn't scale up well. So I wondered how prevalent it was becoming. (Not the various car park controls but this 'by default' method in particular.)

So edge cases are where a system fails because someone didn't foresee an event or behaviour. So your example isn't an edge case. The day you park up, walk into the store, grab some items and then realise you forgot your purse, head back to the car to drive home to get it... then you get an invoice and have to prove you were a genuine customer. That is an edge case. As I say above, I'm assuming that if this happens a person could not get the invoice cancelled without undue hassle. For all I know the store are prepared to take their word for it? But the receipt of a demand for money in this circumstance would still arrive and would still cause most people a degree of stress. I suspect many would think it easier to pay than to argue the point?

One other aspect... the store is off St Aldhelm's Road in Poole. If you check out google maps you see that the entrance to the car park is not marked. If you drive past a certain point on this road you are flagged as subject to an invoice even if you are just turning round. It just seems fundamentally unfair to me. It is literally a financial trap that will trap the unwary.

On the plus side, they have a clever system at the till. You just need to give the first couple of characters of your reg number and it immediately shows an image of your car arriving somewhere near the entrance to the car park. So it is a fairly quick process IF you know the first couple of characters.

You're making a hell of a lot of assumptions in there. Do you really believe thatthe existence of an edge case, as you call them, renders any enforcement unfair?

If so, do you apply that thought process to all laws? There is an edge case for each and every law that exists and therefore they should all be removed by your reckoning.

That's interesting. I can't think of a similar scenario where a genuine and legitimate 'user' of a system would be potentially penalised. Except for those cases where rail users get off the train one stop early and find their ticket doesn't allow this. So they are fined. I've seen a few instances of that in the past.

Just to be clear, once again, the issue I have with system I described is because of its ability to ensnare legitimate users of this car park. I totally agree that free loaders deserve to be hit with an invoice. And I also know that I am making assumptions about how the system is operated. Though the nature of the operation is not fixed and depends on the accuracy of policy enforcement by staff. Something that is likely to vary as staff change and training slips as it tends to do. The store manager could assure his customer that those looping around a full car park can throw their invoices in the bin and the required action in-store to nullify the request will be carried out perfectly and not written on a post-it note for some guy coming in tomorrow who subsequently calls in sick. Yes another assumption also known as stuff happens! But what happens when bolshy manager #6 is in charge a few years later? The hardware (cameras) are fixed. The software (policy, process, interpretation) is not.

[technogogo]

Funkycoldribena said:

technogogo said:

LoonR1 said:

Nothing. Nothing happens. This isn't a national roll out. This isn't happening everywhere. this is one PH poster coming up with a comment that may or may not be true.

Prone to hyperbole?

No not quite. This was me asking if this new system is in use anywhere else? I described the system. Described how it may trap the innocent, unwary. Then asked the question about its use elsewhere. If nowhere else is using this then I'm very happy.

Are you talking about the keypad in the store or the cctv/anpr cameras? Because I know several carparks/fast food places that use the anpr system.

It is common in hotels too. But you kind of expect it in that context.