Lidl mum fears £10 shopping trip might cost £100 due to parking fine

A distraught shopper fears a visit to Lidl to buy lunch for her child will end up costing her £100 - because of controversial new customer parking rules. Julie Hartley-Young dashed into the store in Kingsteignton while on her way to drop her son at holiday club next door.

What nobody told her was that new rules meant she had to scan her receipt on exit to qualify for free parking. It wasn't until 24 hours later, when she made a second visit, that a member of staff asked if she wanted her receipt as proof of parking.

Alarmed that she may already have fallen foul of the restrictions she asked the store for help. But she says staff, though sympathetic, said there was nothing they could do.

Julie now fears a £90 parking dropping through her letterbox any day. All for the cost of a £10 pizza and croissant lunch for her son.

Lidl, which brought in the new parking scheme six weeks ago, says the rules were brought in because of people using the Lidl car park while visiting other shops in the area.

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Julie explained what happened. She said: "I happened to be in the area on Thursday last week as my child was attending a holiday club close by. As a treat for him, I stopped off at Lidl to purchase him a pizza for lunch from the Lidl bakery.

"As I drove into the Lidl car park, the entrance sign said, 'customer parking only' which is what I had always been used to when I used to shop there, parking had always been free for customers, just like at other supermarkets.

"Absolutely nothing alerted me to the fact that customers now have to scan receipts. Neither did the cashier mention I would need my receipt to scan for the car park. He asked me if I wanted my receipt but did not mention anything about needing to scan it."

After refusing the receipt she left the store in a rush and did not notice the scanners in the store or any signs alerting her.

"This new and unusual requirement was not explained or made clear to me, neither is it something I would automatically know, as I have never had to do this at any other store, at any other time in my life," she said.

It wasn't until she visited the store the next morning that a cashier did mention the new system.

She added: "I was horrified with the realisation that there was a £90 fine on the way to me. I have not done anything wrong. That previous day I had legitimately parked as a Lidl customer and made a legitimate purchase in the store."

Julie says management told her cashiers were meant to ask customers whether they need their receipt to scan for the car park.

"At this point I was almost in tears and many other customers were listening," she said. "My little boy then put his arms around me and said he would pay with his pocket money.

"I am a single mum struggling in a cost of living crisis and Lidl is planning on taking almost half my weeks wages, the stress that this is causing is off the scale, it's made me ill. I am not being treated fairly or like a valued customer. I'm still in shock that a massive company can use their power to take money off me in this way, when I've done absolutely nothing wrong.

"Lidl is preventing me from proving my innocence by refusing to check the CCTV. That is because Lidl does not care, to them, I am not a valued customer, but rather collateral damage, in their efforts to prevent the odd person using the car park when they're not shopping in the store.

"When this fine arrives I wont be paying it but will be handing it to a solicitor, and hopefully this will alert others, warning them how their hard earned cash can be immorally taken from them by Lidl, who obviously have no concern whatsoever for their customers.

"It goes without saying, that I wouldn't be shopping there ever again."

Lidl says customers have always been entitled to 90-minutes of free parking with a 10-minute grace period at the store.

A spokesperson said: We introduced a validation system at our Kingsteignton store on Newton Road six weeks ago to ensure availability of spaces for genuine customers. As a responsible business, we go to great lengths to inform the public of parking restrictions by providing extensive signage highlighting all of the necessary details, including the validation process.

"However, we are sorry for any confusion caused as we only ever want our customers to have a pleasant experience when shopping with us. There are a total of 15 signs located in prominent spaces across the carpark of this store, while the registration terminals are also placed in highly visible locations, immediately behind the tills with bright and visible screens that display clear messages regarding their use.

"Our car park systems are managed by a third party, but genuine customers who believe they have received a parking charge notice incorrectly simply need to provide proof of purchase through its appeals process."