Parking Charge For Shopping At Ashton Gate

[handsofclay]

I would be grateful if anyone can provide advice on this matter. 

On December 29th, my partner and I parked at Ashton Gate and bought items at the club shop and then had something to eat and drink in the cafe next door to the shop. In all over £100 was spent on Bristol City premises but today we have received a parking charge of £80 (£45 if it's paid early) for being there for nearly sixty minutes. This seems grossly unfair especially as we were dealing with the staff in the shop and at no time did anyone inform us that we needed to input a registration number (if that is the case). 

[James54De]

Any receipts? Club will likely instruct the company to cancel it on request. 

[handsofclay]

Thanks James yes she has proof of the purchases 

[Dollymarie]

17 minutes ago, handsofclay said:

Thanks James yes she has proof of the purchases 

I’d email Jerry and see what he suggests. The parking company will get out of any blame because they’ll say you should have read the signs in the car park 

[handsofclay]

Thanks Dollymarie. What is Jerry's email address?

[Loco Rojo]

I've parked there before on non match day and was in and out quite quickly. I've just checked the City Website and the rules are detailed here https://www.ashtongatestadium.co.uk/getting-here/ (scroll down to the 'By Car' section.

Not sure if the link will work so...

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Loco Rojo

[handsofclay]

Thanks Loco, I checked on that after and it also went on to say that if items are purchased from the club shop or cafe that charges then don't apply as the registration number can then be logged into the system. Nobody told us of this when we were customers of the club shop or the cafe and as my partner was just getting out and about again on crutches after a partial knee replacement we needed to park fairly close and I wasn't as observant of signs etc as concentrating on getting her crutches out of the car and helping her into the shop. 

[BCFC1512]

There’s a machine in the club shop you put your reg in. We did it when did stadium tour 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Taunton_BCFC

[Redandproud]

21 minutes ago, Dollymarie said:

I’d email Jerry and see what he suggests. The parking company will get out of any blame because they’ll say you should have read the signs in the car park 

Yeh and every driver reads the signs, even the  small writing, 

[exAtyeoMax]

4 minutes ago, Red-Al said:

Yeh and every driver reads the signs, even the  small writing, 

I think the thing is that nowadays you have to be more observant about parking fees, I've often forgotten though.

[handsofclay]

Thanks everyone

Yes I gather now that there's a machine in the club shop but we simply didn't see it and after making our purchases (which also involved returning something bought online that was faulty) nobody asked if we had inputted our reg number. Plus my partner was moving around on a crutch that was alien to her at the time so we were concentrating more on that. It's annoying as well because we then decided to have a brunch in the cafe. Had we not done that we would've been within the thirty minutes. Plus the cafe gave me the wrong order (scrambled egg on toast when I ordered a veggie chilli jacket potato) so had to wait longer for my correct order to be cooked. 

[Eddie Hitler]

Though not of assistance to the OP I thought I would flag that Aldi has a formal association with the "Parking Eye" group.

Aldi generally used to be 90 minutes, but were typically dropped to sixty minutes without the change being flagged. I fell foul of this one time to the tune of £40.

The sign clearly said one hour but looked identical to the previous 90 minutes sign so I hadn't noticed the change. Which was exactly the idea.

The change to Parking Eye, and it has happened at different times around the country and is still happening, is similarly unheralded. Again the signs are small print and look like the previous ones.

Whilst it is still allowing an hour you have to enter your registration in the store or face a £70 fine, I only picked up on this the first time because I overheard a conversation about it whilst in there.

It's very sneaky. There is no sign in store to alert you to the change and the small black terminals near the exit are very easy to miss.

And how easy would it be to put a big brightly coloured sign up by the terminals to tell you to enter your registration?

Very easy indeed.

And therefore very telling that they haven't.

Less Aldi customers and more victims of legalised muggings.

[Dollymarie]

55 minutes ago, handsofclay said:

Thanks Dollymarie. What is Jerry's email address?

Slo@bcfc.co.uk 

[OneTeamInBristol]

The fact that the Stadium car park is a pay and display is a joke in itself.

[handsofclay]

Thanks Dollymarie I will send him an email shortly 

[Talk Of The Town]

41 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

Though not of assistance to the OP I thought I would flag that Aldi has a formal association with the "Parking Eye" group.

Aldi generally used to be 90 minutes, but were typically dropped to sixty minutes without the change being flagged. I fell foul of this one time to the tune of £40.

The sign clearly said one hour but looked identical to the previous 90 minutes sign so I hadn't noticed the change. Which was exactly the idea.

The change to Parking Eye, and it has happened at different times around the country and is still happening, is similarly unheralded. Again the signs are small print and look like the previous ones.

Whilst it is still allowing an hour you have to enter your registration in the store or face a £70 fine, I only picked up on this the first time because I overheard a conversation about it whilst in there.

It's very sneaky. There is no sign in store to alert you to the change and the small black terminals near the exit are very easy to miss.

And how easy would it be to put a big brightly coloured sign up by the terminals to tell you to enter your registration?

Very easy indeed.

And therefore very telling that they haven't.

Less Aldi customers and more victims of legalised muggings.

Didn’t realise this. I parked in Aldi last week and stayed for 1 hour 25 minutes. Had a meeting in the lounge on north street. This is something I’ve done several times before.

[Loco Rojo]

1 hour ago, Taunton_BCFC said:

There’s a machine in the club shop you put your reg in. We did it when did stadium tour 

Wow, i didnt know that. A good idea.

[Seventeen]

46 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

Though not of assistance to the OP I thought I would flag that Aldi has a formal association with the "Parking Eye" group.

Aldi generally used to be 90 minutes, but were typically dropped to sixty minutes without the change being flagged. I fell foul of this one time to the tune of £40.

The sign clearly said one hour but looked identical to the previous 90 minutes sign so I hadn't noticed the change. Which was exactly the idea.

The change to Parking Eye, and it has happened at different times around the country and is still happening, is similarly unheralded. Again the signs are small print and look like the previous ones.

Whilst it is still allowing an hour you have to enter your registration in the store or face a £70 fine, I only picked up on this the first time because I overheard a conversation about it whilst in there.

It's very sneaky. There is no sign in store to alert you to the change and the small black terminals near the exit are very easy to miss.

And how easy would it be to put a big brightly coloured sign up by the terminals to tell you to enter your registration?

Very easy indeed.

And therefore very telling that they haven't.

Less Aldi customers and more victims of legalised muggings.

What Aldi is this as I have never seen this? They use Parking Eye but the cameras track the time you enter and the time you leave the car park, if you spend more than the allocated time then they'll fine you but I haven't heard of a single Aldi where you have to enter the details in store.

 

[Eddie Hitler]

9 minutes ago, Bobby Bollax said:

Didn’t realise this. I parked in Aldi last week and stayed for 1 hour 25 minutes. Had a meeting in the lounge on north street. This is something I’ve done several times before.

 

3 minutes ago, Seventeen said:

What Aldi is this as I have never seen this? They use Parking Eye but the cameras track the time you enter and the time you leave the car park, if you spend more than the allocated time then they'll fine you but I haven't heard of a single Aldi where you have to enter the details in store.

 

 

It's fairly widespread now as I found when I searched for information about it.

Unless you are eagle eyed or looking for it you are unlikely to notice the change.

See the parking FAQs on the link below, "I used the terminal in store".

I won't mention where I encountered it as it may lull you into a false sense of security if it's not your local store; there are multiple stores where you have to enter your registration into a terminal and if your local one changes then they won't be making a point of informing you of the change.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/customer-services/stores

 

[CyderInACan]

12 minutes ago, Bobby Bollax said:

Didn’t realise this. I parked in Aldi last week and stayed for 1 hour 25 minutes. Had a meeting in the lounge on north street. This is something I’ve done several times before.

Deffo not yet operational in Aldi North St. 

[Dollymarie]

21 minutes ago, Seventeen said:

What Aldi is this as I have never seen this? They use Parking Eye but the cameras track the time you enter and the time you leave the car park, if you spend more than the allocated time then they'll fine you but I haven't heard of a single Aldi where you have to enter the details in store.

 

Lidl in Yate does exactly this. You put your reg in at the till and then you can use the car park for free for 2 hours, if you don’t put your reg in you get a fine. 

[Seventeen]

 

2 minutes ago, Dollymarie said:

Lidl in Yate does exactly this. You put your reg in at the till and then you can use the car park for free for 2 hours, if you don’t put your reg in you get a fine. 

Lidl and Aldi are not the same though

It's not an issue in any of the local Aldis anyway. Imperial, North St, even Fishponds and Longwell don't use a terminal to enter your reg.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Seventeen

[Lew-T]

7 minutes ago, Dollymarie said:

Lidl in Yate does exactly this. You put your reg in at the till and then you can use the car park for free for 2 hours, if you don’t put your reg in you get a fine. 

That is ridiculous.

[Eddie Hitler]

8 minutes ago, Dollymarie said:

Lidl in Yate does exactly this. You put your reg in at the till and then you can use the car park for free for 2 hours, if you don’t put your reg in you get a fine. 

 

Ah, it's news to me that Lidl also does this in some stores.

Thanks.

[Eddie Hitler]

8 minutes ago, Seventeen said:

 

Lidl and Aldi are not the same though

It's not an issue in any of the local Aldis anyway. Imperial, North St, even Fishponds and Longwell don't use a terminal to enter your reg.

 

On the Aldi website they have said that they bring it in when there is a problem with parking, either a small car park or people using it to park and go elsewhere.

I don't know those stores but if they have big car parks which are never close to being full then they probably won't bring it in.

[Sir Geoff]

13 minutes ago, Dollymarie said:

Lidl in Yate does exactly this. You put your reg in at the till and then you can use the car park for free for 2 hours, if you don’t put your reg in you get a fine. 

And shops wonder why people don't use them much. No fines for shopping online.

[Seventeen]

6 minutes ago, Eddie Hitler said:

 

On the Aldi website they have said that they bring it in when there is a problem with parking, either a small car park or people using it to park and go elsewhere.

I don't know those stores but if they have big car parks which are never close to being full then they probably won't bring it in.

Doesn't really make sense :laugh:. Imperial and Longwell are the two busiest in the region, North St is busy in the sense that it see's a huge amount of customers through the door, 

Would make sense for a store like North St to have it due to all the other surrounding shops/bars etc but as they don't have it it is weird to see what makes an Aldi qualify for it.

(sorry it peaked my interest as I work at Aldi :laugh:)

Edited January 17, 2023 by Seventeen

[Red hot poker]

Hi Hands , I did exactly what you did, & copped parking fine £100 reduced to £60 if paid early. I contacted Bcfc & was told to email parking@Ashton gate with images of receipts was then informed by parking Ashton gate that the fine was cancelled. Good luck fellow red

[Eddie Hitler]

10 minutes ago, Seventeen said:

Doesn't really make sense :laugh:. Imperial and Longwell are the two busiest in the region, North St is busy in the sense that it see's a huge amount of customers through the door, 

Would make sense for a store like North St to have it due to all the other surrounding shops/bars etc but as they don't have it it is weird to see what makes an Aldi qualify for it.

(sorry it peaked my interest as I work at Aldi :laugh:)

 

Fair enough.

I wouldn't know the policy but a quick search shows up several examples dating back to 2013 and my local one (not in Bristol ) brought it in end of last year.

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by Eddie Hitler

[Barrs Court Red]

This sort of parking charge is becoming a pain. Kids had a session at Goals this weekend, yet it wasn’t mentioned anywhere about the need to enter your reg at reception - luckily a parent pre warned the group chat.

Sommerdale is the same.