It was a typical Sunday for Nick Pice, running errands and making dashes to the local supermarket.
But the Holmfirth dad’s innocent calls to Lidl had a penalty to make your piggy-bank blush.
Nick was slapped with a £90 parking fine after making two separate ten-minute stops at the Huddersfield Road branch as he stocked up on items for Sunday lunch.
The calls were four hours apart but Nick, 51, of Highfields, was left dumbfounded when a letter through the post three days later accused him of overstaying his welcome for the entire period, and demanded he pay up.
He said: “I had popped out to pick my wife Penny and my mother-in-law up from church and stopped at Lidl on the way to buy a few bits.
“We had Sunday lunch and I was taking them to the carol service at Huddersfield Fellowship Church.
“On the way back I stopped in again. On both visits I was straight in and straight out again.”
Nick, who works at the Morrisons store in Meltham, was fined after the store’s CCTV took separate images hours apart, both of which was when he was visiting the store.
A letter sent to him explained he had incurred a £90 fine, which was halved to £45 if he paid within 14 days.
Nick said: “There is no way I will be paying the fine.
“I was a regular shopper at Lidl, but I won’t be going in again.
“I just want people to be aware of this so it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Nick says he has contacted the store to explain his side of the story since the incident on December 13, but was told it was a matter to be taken up with the CCTV agency.
A spokesperson for Lidl said: “The vast majority of our store car parks do not have any car park management systems in place as there is no shortage of parking spaces at these locations.
“In a small number of our store car parks, we have different systems in place to manage the availability of car parking spaces to ensure that our customers take priority.
The spokesperson added: “However, we still encourage any genuine Lidl customers who have received a Parking Charge Notice to get in touch with us directly via our Customer Services hotline number.
“Customers who have overstayed in one of our car parks should then just provide us with proof of purchase and we will appeal the charge on their behalf.”
