Barriers Removed from Chiswick Sainsbury's Car Park
New ANPR enforcement regime means no requirement to shop in store
The barriers have been removed from Chiswick Sainsbury's car park
November 6, 2023
The barriers outside the Sainsbury’s car park on Essex Place have been removed which appears to have effectively increased the amount of free parking in Chiswick.
Previously, free parking was restricted to half an hour unless you shopped at the store, spending more than £10 and validated a voucher at the till. If you were not a customer and want to stay longer than half an hour the charge was £2 for one hour and £4 for two with a £60 charge for exceeding the time paid for.
In recent months, there had been many reports of Sainsbury’s leaving the exit barriers open and some people had ceased to bother to get parking validated. Previously, large queues sometimes developed at the exit barriers due to technical malfunctions or customers forgetting their validated ticket.
This system has been scrapped in favour of ANPR enforcement in which your car registration will be taken automatically as you enter the car park and again as you leave. If less than two hours has passed then there will be no charge but, any longer, and you will receive a demand for payment in the post from Euro Car Parks Ltd, who manage the car park on behalf of Sainsbury’s.
Legally, Euro Car Parks Ltd cannot issue fines so this is a civil debt which the company may choose to enforce through the appropriate courts.
Returns to the car park within an hour of parking there earlier in the same day will also receive a charge although Sainsbury's says if the store management is contacted in advance it may be possible to avoid a charge.
There will now only be ten minutes parking allowed outside Sainsbury’s trading hours.
Anyone who has an issue with the new parking arrangements will be referred to Euro Car Parks Ltd if they wish to make an appeal. The details of the company will be on the notice sent in the post. We asked Sainsbury’s what would happen if a customer was delayed, for instance, by unexpectedly large queues at the tills but it did not address this question in its response.
New sign indicates changed terms for parking in the Sainsbury's car park
For anyone who wishes to use the car park for longer than two hours Sainsbury's offer a limited number of spaces in the car park at a daily charge of £15.34 bookable at www.horizonspaces.co.uk.
The car park is understood to have been built on what was originally Metropolitan Open Land. It is subject to a restrictive covenant signed on 12 March 1986 which states that it can only be used for car parking purposes and no structures can be erected on it. This also requires Sainsbury’s to maintain the car park in good order and not charge more for parking than rates prevailing in nearby council owned car parking. Hounslow Council is responsible for enforcing the provisions of the covenant.
Several years ago, designs by an architectural practice employed by Sainsbury’s showed proposals for a mixed use development scheme on the site which showed tall buildings on the car park area and draft outline plans were submitted to Hounslow Council early in 2022. It is thought that Sainsbury’s believes that it could find legal grounds for setting aside the covenant if it wanted to develop the site but these proposals or any similar have not been taken forward.
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