Reader's letter: Outrageous Sainsbury's parking system is clearly designed to make Euro Car Parks money

I was interested to read your article(s) regarding Sainsbury’s in Horsham and the parking problems experienced by customers.

I can’t tell you how angry it makes people to fall foul, unwittingly, of a system that is clearly designed to make a company money.

We don’t need to be very bright to realise that Euro Car Parks can only make money in two ways: the first from its clients, such as Sainsbury’s, and the second from those who flout the rules or – which is more likely – make honest mistakes.

What really upsets me is that the car-parking giants have developed a technology of number-plate recognition which has allowed them to shed staff and thus make huge savings, whilst imposing the additional burden of careful data-entry on those parking their cars.

My mum’s 88 and hadn’t been to Sainsbury’s for a while. She visited last week and saw that the barriers that had once regulated entry were no longer there.

She assumed, wrongly, that Sainsbury’s had simplified its system. She parked in a blue-badge space and displayed her blue badge – mum is frail now, and very deaf. She did her shopping. If the person at the checkout attempted to explain parking procedures – if mum was offered advice or help – she didn’t hear it and wasn’t aware anyone was trying to assist.

She left the car park and received the letter asking her to pay £85.00. I have to say that had she noticed the notices with the complicated instructions, she would have struggled.

We’re living in an age when such instructions are written by people who assume the reader is holding a smart-phone and can absorb new technology fast – or by people who hope the elderly will fall foul of the system and become liable for fines.

Mum paid the fine because Euro Car Parks reduce the fine if you pay it fast. Yes, there’s an appeal procedure but mum may have disqualified herself from using it by paying up. We will see: I am writing to Euro Car Parks.

What disgusts me is that Sainsbury’s have no interest in the matter: they have delegated all responsibility, and that must be a decision taken by head office.

Nobody in the Horsham branch wants to know. It’s curious, though, because this really does create ill-feeling and the Sainsbury’s management ought to understand individuals will boycott the store – my mother will never go back there.

I would love to know the Horsham manager’s views, though I fear s/he’ll be obliged to read from a song-sheet head office has produced: ‘we recently reviewed our parking policy etc etc’.

I wish you would consider writing another, longer, more investigative article that looks into this business.

I don’t think it’s enough simply to report that people are cross. People are being fleeced by a company that acts cynically, banking on the fact shoppers will make mistakes. I would love to know how much money Euro Car Parks makes from its Sainsbury’s contract, but Euro Car Parks have successfully insulated themselves against any public contact.

You can’t phone, and if you write they preserve anonymity. The appeals procedure is opaque – what gives them the right to decide whether or not my mother deserves to be fined or not? Are we supposed to accept their verdict when it’s clearly in their interests not to uphold an appeal?

By the way, you can appeal against the appeal (if you lose it), but that negates your right to the fee reduction. What cynical little money-grubber saw that opportunity? Again, we all know that the customer is pretty much powerless.

If the customer refuses to pay, the process of a court-order cranks up – which is simply automatic paperwork to Euro Car Parks. The customer ends up with a CCJ and a compromised credit-history – the big company wins again. And all this is happening as people like my mum worry about their bills and inflation. It’s an outrage.

• Share your own views – email your letters to [email protected]. Please keep letters to a maximum of 300 words. Letters cannot be published without a name and postal address. Also include a daytime phone number if possible. We reserve the right to edit any letter.

READ THIS: Concerns over new parking system at Horsham supermarket

ALSO IN THE NEWS: Decision due on supermarket's bid for new Horsham store

HAVE YOU READ? Brighton FIFA 23 player ratings: The full list of ratings for Roberto De Zerbi's squad - including Leandro Trossard, Moisés Caicedo and Pascal Groß