A visit to Lidl that he will remember for a long time.
A German retiree had the unpleasant surprise of receiving a fine for parking too long in the parking lot of the supermarket located in Bremen (north-west), reports the media Der Westen.
As is increasingly the case in Germany, the brand called on a service provider, here a company called ParkPoint, which installs video surveillance cameras to combat users who park in car parks reserved for customers without coming shopping at Lidl, or staying in the parking lot for too long.
In this Lidl, the maximum duration allowed is 90 minutes, otherwise you will receive a fine.
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Problem is, the retiree was fined 35 euros even though he only stayed parked... for 39 minutes in the car park.
The cameras installed by ParkPoint capture images as vehicles enter the Lidl car park, but two other stores are behind them and are only accessible through the entrance to the discount store.
The amount of purchases too low
That day, the German retiree went to the gym before going shopping at Lidl.
He was thus identified by the cameras upon his arrival, spent an hour and a half doing his sports session and parking in the gym parking lot, before returning to his car to park for 39 minutes in the parking lot of the gym. Lidl.
As he leaves the store with his car and his shopping worth 33.80 euros, the video surveillance company captures his departure time and observes that he stayed 39 minutes too long, compared to 90 minutes allowed.
She therefore sends him a fine of 35 euros.
Stunned, the man asks his gym for proof to prove that he was there, attaches his Lidl receipt and sends them to ParkPoint, who won't hear anything.
“Unfortunately, the amount of purchases proven is not related to the duration of parking recorded,” the company explains.
It therefore seems that the 33.80 euros spent at Lidl are not enough to justify the time spent in the famous parking lot.
“From a legal point of view, this is absurd.
The legal situation is clear: the amount of the purchase has no importance,” criticizes Nicole Bahn, lawyer at the Bremen Consumer Center, to the Kreiszeitung media.
With this fine greater than his shopping basket, it is not certain that this retiree will go to this store again.