How do car parks fine you for leaving premises?

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 Alex Pryor 15 Sep 2019

I've heard of 2 recent cases where people have been fined for leaving the premises to shop elsewhere while parked in a retail park having visited shops there first. I have got away with this myself in the past but may have to be more careful in future.

The T and Cs don't allow this, which is fair enough, but I wonder how they know you've left the car park.  They say the car park is patrolled but wardens would have to be on the ball to detect this except in blatant cases. Do they have someone monitoring CCTV  for offenders or is it done by AI, perhaps even using face recognition, a worrying thought.

Anybody know how it's done? And could you get away with visiting a shop in the retail park before leaving and before returning to the car?

Post edited at 12:40
 Neil Williams 15 Sep 2019
In reply to Alex Pryor:

Normally it's done when an enforcement officer is on site.

When you have several establishments together it's incredibly silly and needs to be banned.  It is effectively anticompetitive, as a combination of that rule and a "no return within" rule[1] means it is impossible to shop around between two adjacent premises e.g. two DIY sheds.

TBH, the better way of doing that, if you *really* want to do it, is to charge for parking but refund it when you make a purchase at the store that owns the car park.

[1] Also a stupid rule when car parks are camera controlled, because you can't return for a forgotten item, and it also creates issues for taxi drivers and people dropping off/collecting non-drivers.  More sensible is "you may park for a maximum of three hours total in this car park in any calendar day" or somesuch.

Post edited at 12:42
 profitofdoom 15 Sep 2019
In reply to Neil Williams:

> TBH, the better way of doing that, if you *really* want to do it, is to charge for parking but refund it when you make a purchase at the store that owns the car park.

That's what they do in Hong Kong, just show a high-enough receipt and your parking fee is reduced or cancelled

OP Alex Pryor 15 Sep 2019
In reply to Neil Williams:

In the case I'm thinking of it's a retail park of several shops but the T&Cs imply you can visit any of the shops while parked there, but NOT leave the site (it actually states the driver may not leave the site so I guess the passengers are safe). But it's a large car park with several shops so I can't believe wardens could detect this unless someone left the site immediately after parking, or returned straight to their car from off site. 

I know the parking fee with refund on purchase can be a better system but in this case there are usually queues to enter and leave so pay barriers would snarl up half of Chesterfield!

 Jenny C 15 Sep 2019
In reply to profitofdoom:

Decathlon do this. Total pita if they don't have your size as you not only have a wasted trip, but also get stung for parking despite trying your very best to be a customer. 

 Dan Arkle 15 Sep 2019
In reply to Jenny C:

I don't resent decathlon too much for this as they have £1 energy gels and bars at the entrance. 

 Fozzy 15 Sep 2019
 The New NickB 15 Sep 2019
In reply to Alex Pryor:

What most consumers don’t know and parking management companies don’t want you to know, or sometimes don’t even know themselves, is that these car parks are often subject to planning conditions that specifically prohibit these sorts of rules.

 PPP 15 Sep 2019
In reply to Alex Pryor:

Could you not visit a loo in the shop and then go and do your business as you intended? Surely no one is going to follow you that far to see if you actually bought anything... 

IMHO providing a car park could be a good enough reason to pop into the store to pick up item X while items Y and Z catch your eye and you end up with a full bag of goods! 

OP Alex Pryor 15 Sep 2019
In reply to PPP:

You don't have to buy anything, you just have to not leave the car parks or its shops.

OP Alex Pryor 15 Sep 2019
In reply to Fozzy:

Very helpful. It seems to depend on the observation of human CCTV operators.

So if I go into one shop, change my jacket and hat and put on a false moustache before leaving, and reverse the process on my return I should get away with it


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