Hello
My partner received a parking charge notice for Tesco car park in Bursledon Southampton for allegedly parking from 6am to 4pm on 4 December. We contested it online through the Horizon Portal but didn’t have any evidence to submit at the time as we did not keep receipts that long. We received the notice on 20 December 2024. My partner visited the store twice that day once in the morning on the way to work and once on his way home from work. We have a screenshot of his online banking that shows he visited the store twice that day. Although the frequently asked questions section on the Horizon website states we should be able to upload this screenshot to the appeal the portal does not give us this option. We went into the store to talk to the store manager and show them the online banking but we never got to see them, a cashier told us that Tesco are not responsible for the car park and can’t do anything. This surprised us because we received a similar notice a year or so ago and the same thing had happened. We saw the manager who was only too happy to help. They told us that this was happening a lot and lots of people were visiting the store, that the system was at fault, during busy periods when cars drove close together the system didn’t reliably pick up cars leaving or coming back a second time. When I looked on line this was happening all over the country. The manager cancelled the notice for us. I haven’t been well this year and my partner has just lost his job before Christmas, we have always shopped in Tesco as we live around the corner and this has caused a lot of distress. We don’t need a full day car parking space as we live around the corner and have ample space at home. Furthermore my partner only has this one vehicle and he drove it to work that day out of the area. He worked with his colleagues. Though he has now left the company they should have a record of him working that day and where he worked or be able to witness that he drove his car to work if it goes to court. I need to write a letter to Horizon because we can’t attach the screenshot to the portal and we can’t email or phone them but I don’t have a printer so I still can’t send them the screenshot. There website states they offer accessible solutions but I doesn’t feel very accessible. I’m also stunned that Tesco have known about the issue with the car park system but except no responsibility.
