Parking dispute at Lidl: Pensioner has to pay fine because he didn’t buy enough

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Lidl is worth it – with this slogan the company advertises its low prices. For a retiree from Germany, the purchase was probably not worth it. But it’s not the food that’s expensive for him; it’s the parking lot.

To ensure that their parking spaces are not used, some locations now use surveillance cameras. This also applies to a Lidl branch in Bremen, Germany, which wants to prevent customers from leaving their cars unnecessarily long. A maximum of 90 minutes is allowed; anyone who violates this will receive a fine from the monitoring company Parkpoint.

The pensioner in question who was shopping at Lidl recently received such a card. He parked in front of the supermarket for only 39 minutes. The problem: the cameras also register parking spaces that do not belong to the company. However, Parkpoint does not want to take back the ticket. The customer has not spent enough money to use the Lidl parking lot, ‘Focus’ reports.

A visit to the gym will be fatal

“Unfortunately, the proven purchase amount is not in proportion to the established parking time,” the control company responded to the complaint and handed over the pensioner’s Lidl voucher. The 34 euros that the man spent in 39 minutes is not enough for Parkpoint. He must pay a fine of 35 euros.

Apart from the questionable minimum spend when shopping, the Lidl customer actually adhered to the rules. Instead of the allowed 90 minutes, he ended up being in the parking lot for only 39 minutes. Then why was he fined?

The problem is the adjacent parking spaces. Behind the Lidl car park there are two more parking spaces: that of a drinks market and that of a fitness room – both only accessible via the Lidl entrance. According to “Focus,” the retiree was captured on camera entering the gym that day.

Parkpoint calls for punishment

After parking his car in front of the fitness center, he worked out for 90 minutes. You can park in this parking lot for that long. He then drove to Lidl, left his car for 39 minutes and did his shopping.

But the cameras recorded both the 39 minutes in the Lidl car park and the 90 minutes he was in the fitness centre. The pensioner therefore exceeded the permitted parking time of 90 minutes.

Although the gym issued a parking ticket, it was not taken into account by the inspection company. According to ‘Focus’, the company still maintains that the customer’s purchase value is too low for the parking time. (gs)

Source: Blick