A WOMAN has been left outraged after she was handed a parking ticket by Aldi in Stroud – she feels like she has been penalised for spending money in the shop.

Jessica Dean, from Stroud, had her ticket waived by Aldi but she fears that she will receive more fines in the future, as she frequently spends over an hour and a half in the store, Aldi’s maximum stay.

“They suggested that I contact them every time I get a parking fine and then they will sort it out. What a waste of everyone’s time,” Jessica said.

She went on to describe how she feels like she is being penalised for spending ‘a lot of money in-store’.

“I do a monthly shop so obviously this takes quite a long time.”

Jessica has argued that Aldi’s parking policy is not made clear to customers, and that everyone she has spoken to is unaware of the potential fines.

“I have shopped at their Quedgeley and Gloucester branches and this hasn’t been a problem,” she added.

She has also raised fears that some people do not keep their receipts, and so may get caught out.

“Also, what happens at Christmas when people are doing a larger shop?” she said.

“Some people may throw their receipt away and have no way of proving that they were in the store, it’s not fair.

“I feel that this is something people should be made aware of. Sainsbury give you two and a half hours which is a much better amount of time.”

In response to this, an Aldi spokesperson suggested that Jessica raises her concerns to their customer services team.

“Parking at our Stroud store is restricted to one-and-a-half hours, with a no return within four hours, to ensure we can offer free parking to our customers and encourage fair usage,” they said.

“We have asked the car park operator to cancel this ticket and encourage Ms Dean to contact our customer services team.”