I am writing this review with some measure of regret, having been a shopper at Aldi since not long after their arrival here. Rarely a problem encountered, no parking tickets, always complied with their parking time limits. How quickly things can change.I have received today a parking charge notice number 298875/134204 from Parking Eye relating to a 22 minute stay at their Newquay store while shopping. I should add that I have been using the store for probably ten years, apart from 2024. Each time I have used the car park for shopping and always kept within the time limits. I now find that, having failed to enter my registration number into a terminal, I have breached the parking conditions.I turned left into the car park and saw no signs, other than the ones I am familiar with, to indicate that the system had changed. Why would I look? I use Aldi stores in many areas and have never come across a store where this system is in use. I parked and waited in the car while my wife and grandchildren did the shopping; we then left. They said nothing about the new system meaning that they had not noticed any signage either, not that it would occur to them to look for it. I did not enter the store.My point here is this. Aldi have hundreds if not thousands of stores and I have never before come across one using this system. In the case of this particular store it is in a tourist area meaning that the majority of people using it will not be used to it and may only use it once in a 12 month period. It is the responsibility of Aldi to make sure, through as many means as they can, that users of the car park are aware.To that end:Why are there no large, clear and obvious signs at the car park entrance to make ad hoc users aware and perhaps prevent them entering in the first place.Why are no large, clear and obvious signs in the entrance porch to warn drivers and especially their passengers who could then advise the driver.If this is not a money-making exercise on the part of Aldi, why are there no large, clear and obvious signs at the checkouts to warn people before they leave. Why do the checkout operators, as part of the process they go through with each customer, not check with the customer.I used the store, put money in its tills and took a car park space for 22 minutes. Parking Eye, acting on behalf of. Aldi, now want me to pay £70 for the privilege all for failing to comply with a system I had not encountered before and had no reason to believe was in place. Aldi could and should have done better here to make sure that I and my passengers could not fail to be aware; maybe they didn’t really care?Other supermarkets are available.
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