Sainsbury’s is stepping up its help to customers needing a parking space at the Spalding store by installing a camera system.
The automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system will monitor vehicles arriving and leaving the supermarket’s Holland Market car park.
And the registered owner of any vehicle overstaying the two-hour free parking limit can expect a parking charge notice (PCN) dropping through their letterbox soon afterwards. Furthermore, the “fine” is going up by £10 to £70.
The move comes less than five years after Sainsbury’s introduced a sensor system at the car park, now deemed not effective enough in deterring long stays in the facility.
Each parking bay was fitted with a small dome which transmits information about its use and availability.When an overstay is noted, the vehicle is issued with a ticket by an attendant.
The new system will not utilise on-site personnel.
A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “We are replacing the existing sensor system with ANPR. It is a more effective way of protecting spaces for customers.
“The current terms and conditions of the car park will remain the same.
“The PCN rate for overstays is currently £60 and will be £70 once ANPR is installed, which is our standard rate for ANPR sites.
“We expect the change to take place within the next couple of months.”
Sainsbury’s owns about half of the Holland Market car park. The other half has a free parking limit of three hours.
The whole site is monitored by Euro Car Parks, which is understood to be the operator of the new ANPR system.
Job implications of the change are unclear.
The Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “The parking attendants were transferred across from our old operator to our new operator to manage the car park in the interim whilst we await ANPR. Our new operator is consulting with the attendants to discuss future options post-ANPR.”
Spalding town centre manager Dennis Hannant said it was “unfortunate” that Sainsbury’s had felt compelled to install cameras.
“The car park is invariably full on most days of the week,” he said. “Knowing Sainsbury’s as I do, they wouldn’t have taken this decision lightly. It’s probably come from customers complaining that they couldn’t get parked.”
