Dear LPG readers,

I like doing the odd bit of statistical calculation, and some Google research helped me deduce that I am one of the 14% of U.K. pensioners who can still drive. While the figures are a year or two old, I also found information that shows that 18% of UK people are pensioners who have problems getting out on their own. 

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A bit more personal calculation helped me deduce that about 4% of us won’t be able to get very far without some help.    

With that in mind, I try to use my car to help some of that 4%, and I did it one day, not so long ago.  I took a friend to Sainsbury’s in Bromley.  You can park there for an hour for free, but there is a fiddly and complicated process if you want to get out without preparing for one of those letters that bring you a parking fine.  

My friend has health challenges you can’t see, which makes getting around the shop a slow process. She often visits with her daughter, who drives but cannot help during the day. I am wary of any car park these days because I am a pensioner, too, and the technicalities of those parking machines are sometimes beyond me. 

The lady I was taking knew the rules, though. You must buy over £10.00 of Sainsbury’s goods in-store and then scan the bill at a machine. She did the shopping and paid before we took the bill to the machine, which I could not make work. Eventually, another lady who was paying her bill kindly helped us do the thing with the machine, and we left.  

But the letter arrived a week later, informing me I had overstayed my welcome. When I looked at the details, I had arrived at 12:09:58 on the day, and the camera filmed my car leaving at 12:10:13, meaning that I left the shop 15 seconds late.  

I don’t remember getting a receipt from the machine; only a note on the display that informed me that the process had registered. Why, if I was out of time, could the machine not have made it known that there was an extra cost at the time and charged me whatever the going rate was? The answer is obvious. They would have had to pay more to put that technology into the machine, and fining me allows them to make much more money.  

The letter did mention the appeal process, which states that if your appeal is not upheld, you will be expected to pay the full £85. This was enough to put me off appealing, but I needed to make my feelings known somewhere. 

Have you noticed that the government and big companies offer parking but offload the responsibility to a company that provides no telephone number apart from the one you can phone to pay through?

The person I took and I paid half of the £50.00 reduced fee for early payment each, and I know that business is business, but do you think this is fair? 

SG, Lewisham.

LPG found some food for thought for anyone else who has been affected in this way –

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This is the nearest to any Sainsbury’s parking information we could find…

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