By Graham from Motorhome Parking
I sent the following e-mail to the CEOs/MDs of Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose.
Quote:
As motorhome owners my wife and I appreciate the problems of both finding parking places for a large vehicle (from the point of view of the driver) and providing suitable places (from the point of view of the business owner). From time to time we need to call in at supermarkets in order to stock up with food. Obviously we avoid small car parks and those where it is dangerous to manoeuvre a large vehicle but we do find it helpful when we are able to use larger parking areas.
In years gone by this did not present a problem (and still doesn't in many areas) but we have noted the rise in the necessity for businesses to protect their interests, and those of their genuine customers, by introducing restrictions on parking to combat the abuse of facilities by inconsiderate motorists. There is one of those restrictions which affects motorhome owners, but not owners of smaller vehicles, and that is the requirement for the vehicle to fit into a single bay. The vast majority of motorhome owners - and I am talking about genuine store customers here - will tend to leave their vehicle in a lesser used area of a car park, where it is not in the way of other people and minimises any effects of multiple bay use, but they still face the possibility of an excess charge in car parks with restrictions. What happens then is that people go elsewhere to shop and the business loses custom which it would otherwise have enjoyed.
It would be much appreciated by ourselves and, I am sure, fellow motorhome owners, if you could relax restrictions on single bay usage for owners of large vehicles who are genuine customers. I look forward to your comments as to whether this may be possible.
So far I've had positive responses from
Asda
Quote:
Thank you for your email to Andy Clarke about the parking for motor homes in at our Asda stores. As part of Andy's team, I'm available on his behalf to respond to any customer issues.
I'm sorry you often find it difficult to park your motor home in our store car parks due to height restrictions and being unable to park in multiple bays. I can certainly understand how frustrating this must be for you and your wife, especially when you just need to call in quickly for some essentials.
We want our customer to be able to use our stores without any hassle. Some of our store car parks do have a height restriction on them and I'm sure you'll appreciate we are unable to remove these at the entrance on request.
Having said that, you would not be penalised for parking in our stores over more than one bay providing that this is not over our specialist bays. We would advise that this is, as you said in your email, towards the back or quieter areas of the car park.
Once again thank you for getting in touch and sharing your concerns. If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.
and Tesco
Quote:
Please accept my apologies in the delay in replying and I thank you for your patience whilst I investigated this for you.
I have spoken with a member of our Car Park and External Space Team who explained our position with regards to your concerns.
We appreciate that our customers have many different modes of transport, whether that be car, foot, public transport and larger vehicles, such as motor homes. Although we have signs in place, we take each customer circumstances into consideration.
The Car Parks Governance has highlighted this issue in a number of stores and is working on a solution. However, in order to get an accurate resolution we expect this to take some time. Different solutions being reviewed include re-introduction of Marshals, technology solution installation and / or store self-ticketing.
I want to assure you that we are reviewing the car park management systems and hope to offer suitable alternatives and solutions in the future. Thank you for your comments and for bringing this to the attention of our Chief Executive's office.
I wasn't quite sure what this meant whilst so asked for clarification and was told
Quote:
I can confirm that we are working on introducing a new policy which would be for stores nationwide. However in the meantime we will take each of our customer’s situations into consideration and we are relaying that message to our stores currently so you do not receive differing rules depending on which store you visit.
Please feel free to print a copy of our conversation and take it with you on your trips to any of our stores, in case you are challenged by a member of staff, because not every store is aware that we are currently changing the policy.
Unfortunately, a negative response from Morrisons
Quote:
Thank you for contacting our Chief Executive, Dalton Philips, who has asked me to respond to you on his behalf.
I am very sorry to learn of the problems you are experiencing with regard to parking your motorhome in our car parks. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience you have been caused.
Your concerns were escalated to our Regional Estates Manager who has advised that our car park restrictions are in place to ensure that sufficient spaces are available for our customers, whatever their vehicle size. We are therefore unable to accommodate your request for using multiple bays and I regret any disappointment this decision may cause you.
I do appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention and sincerely hope that it will not deter you from shopping with us in the future.
I've received acknowledgements from Aldi, Sainsburys and Waitrose but nothing yet from Lidl. I'll post their substantive responses when received.
I sent the following e-mail to the CEOs/MDs of Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose.
Quote:
As motorhome owners my wife and I appreciate the problems of both finding parking places for a large vehicle (from the point of view of the driver) and providing suitable places (from the point of view of the business owner). From time to time we need to call in at supermarkets in order to stock up with food. Obviously we avoid small car parks and those where it is dangerous to manoeuvre a large vehicle but we do find it helpful when we are able to use larger parking areas.
In years gone by this did not present a problem (and still doesn't in many areas) but we have noted the rise in the necessity for businesses to protect their interests, and those of their genuine customers, by introducing restrictions on parking to combat the abuse of facilities by inconsiderate motorists. There is one of those restrictions which affects motorhome owners, but not owners of smaller vehicles, and that is the requirement for the vehicle to fit into a single bay. The vast majority of motorhome owners - and I am talking about genuine store customers here - will tend to leave their vehicle in a lesser used area of a car park, where it is not in the way of other people and minimises any effects of multiple bay use, but they still face the possibility of an excess charge in car parks with restrictions. What happens then is that people go elsewhere to shop and the business loses custom which it would otherwise have enjoyed.
It would be much appreciated by ourselves and, I am sure, fellow motorhome owners, if you could relax restrictions on single bay usage for owners of large vehicles who are genuine customers. I look forward to your comments as to whether this may be possible.
So far I've had positive responses from
Asda
Quote:
Thank you for your email to Andy Clarke about the parking for motor homes in at our Asda stores. As part of Andy's team, I'm available on his behalf to respond to any customer issues.
I'm sorry you often find it difficult to park your motor home in our store car parks due to height restrictions and being unable to park in multiple bays. I can certainly understand how frustrating this must be for you and your wife, especially when you just need to call in quickly for some essentials.
We want our customer to be able to use our stores without any hassle. Some of our store car parks do have a height restriction on them and I'm sure you'll appreciate we are unable to remove these at the entrance on request.
Having said that, you would not be penalised for parking in our stores over more than one bay providing that this is not over our specialist bays. We would advise that this is, as you said in your email, towards the back or quieter areas of the car park.
Once again thank you for getting in touch and sharing your concerns. If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.
and Tesco
Quote:
Please accept my apologies in the delay in replying and I thank you for your patience whilst I investigated this for you.
I have spoken with a member of our Car Park and External Space Team who explained our position with regards to your concerns.
We appreciate that our customers have many different modes of transport, whether that be car, foot, public transport and larger vehicles, such as motor homes. Although we have signs in place, we take each customer circumstances into consideration.
The Car Parks Governance has highlighted this issue in a number of stores and is working on a solution. However, in order to get an accurate resolution we expect this to take some time. Different solutions being reviewed include re-introduction of Marshals, technology solution installation and / or store self-ticketing.
I want to assure you that we are reviewing the car park management systems and hope to offer suitable alternatives and solutions in the future. Thank you for your comments and for bringing this to the attention of our Chief Executive's office.
I wasn't quite sure what this meant whilst so asked for clarification and was told
Quote:
I can confirm that we are working on introducing a new policy which would be for stores nationwide. However in the meantime we will take each of our customer’s situations into consideration and we are relaying that message to our stores currently so you do not receive differing rules depending on which store you visit.
Please feel free to print a copy of our conversation and take it with you on your trips to any of our stores, in case you are challenged by a member of staff, because not every store is aware that we are currently changing the policy.
Unfortunately, a negative response from Morrisons
Quote:
Thank you for contacting our Chief Executive, Dalton Philips, who has asked me to respond to you on his behalf.
I am very sorry to learn of the problems you are experiencing with regard to parking your motorhome in our car parks. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience you have been caused.
Your concerns were escalated to our Regional Estates Manager who has advised that our car park restrictions are in place to ensure that sufficient spaces are available for our customers, whatever their vehicle size. We are therefore unable to accommodate your request for using multiple bays and I regret any disappointment this decision may cause you.
I do appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention and sincerely hope that it will not deter you from shopping with us in the future.
I've received acknowledgements from Aldi, Sainsburys and Waitrose but nothing yet from Lidl. I'll post their substantive responses when received.
