A SUPERMARKET customer who intentionally got fined for parking at Lidl in Yate has had the penalty revoked after drawing a cartoon picture to 'prove' his family shopped at the store.

Stephen Crowley was incensed after seeing an elderly customer agreeing to pay a £90 fine after accidentally contravening strict regulations imposed by the budget store last year that he decided to campaign against the parking rules.

Mr Crowley, 40, visited the supermarket on Kennedy Way and purposely did not tell the cashier his vehicle registration number, which shoppers are required to do in order to avoid being fined for using the store’s car park. Shortly afterwards he received a fine in the post.

The teacher from Chipping Sodbury told Athena ANPR Ltd, which operates the Lidl car park, that he did not have his receipt to prove he had shopped at the store and instead drew a cartoon of himself and his children outside Lidl.

Depicted as stick figures, he included the exact time and date he had visited the store as well as a picture of a Lidl employee ‘having a sneaky cigarette when they should really be accurately inputting customer vehicle details into their computers’.

Athena ANPR confirmed Mr Crowley’s appeal was upheld and his £90 was revoked.

“What really moved me to make this complaint is that a couple of months ago I was waiting in the queue at Lidl and saw an old man of about 80 years, looking quite frightened and pleading with the Lidl manager about this letter he'd receive demanding £90 from him,” he said.

“The old man was insisting that he only ever parked in the Lidl car park if he was actually shopping at the store.

“I saw what was going on and intervened. I advised the old man not to pay the parking charge. Sadly, he ignored my advice and paid the fine. I was incensed that this vulnerable pensioner had been taken advantage of.”

He said he did not believe the parking system, where customers who shop in store and disclose their registration number at the checkout can park for 90 minutes for free but anyone else using the car park will be fined, was legally enforceable.

Lidl introduced the new regulations in Yate last summer and the Gazette reported how customers who had fallen foul of the charges were up in arms at being fined for using their local supermarket.

A Lidl spokeswoman said: “Our customers’ wishes are paramount and shape the way that we operate as a business. This is why we, unfortunately, have to have management systems in a small number of our car parks, including Yate.

"Whilst we of course understand that it’s not always possible to please everyone, ensuring availability of car parking spaces for our customers is key in helping to achieve a pleasant shopping experience.

“Our car parks are well sign posted, to help avoid any confusion. 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 service hotline number and we will look into their case.”