World · Europe · 5 hrs ago
Edeka customer charged €30 after two visits exceeded daily parking limit
A customer who visited an Edeka supermarket in Mittenwald twice in one day received a €30 parking charge.
Her two stays totalled one hour and 52 minutes, 22 minutes more than the car park’s 90-minute limit.
The rule counts all parking between midnight and 11:59 p.m., so leaving and returning does not reset the clock.
Signs at the site explain the daily limit, and cameras record cars entering and leaving.
The parking operator says the rule is meant to stop people who are not shopping there from using the spaces for long periods.
The customer paid the charge and wants other shoppers to know about the rule; an ADAC representative says challenging it may be difficult, while a consumer lawyer argues the daily total could surprise customers.
Drivers who dispute a charge can check the signs and write to the parking company with supporting evidence.
An Edeka customer in Mittenwald received a €30 contractual penalty after two visits to the supermarket car park exceeded its 90-minute daily limit.
Her car was parked for a total of one hour and 52 minutes on 9 October.
The limit applies to all parking visits between midnight and 23:59, rather than resetting when a driver leaves.
Parkdepot, which manages the car park, says the rule is intended to stop non-customers from evading parking limits.
A consumer lawyer told BILD he believes the rule may be an unexpected and invalid clause.
- Who
- An Edeka customer in Mittenwald, identified by OP Online as Martha Metz.
- What
- She received a €30 contractual penalty after her two parking visits totalled one hour and 52 minutes, exceeding the 90-minute daily limit.
- When
- 9 October 2026. She received the notice a few days later.
- Where
- The Edeka car park on Mühlenweg in Mittenwald, Bavaria.
- Why
- The car park counts all visits in a day together. Parkdepot says the rule is intended to prevent non-customers from repeatedly leaving and re-entering to evade the limit.
Arndt Kempgens
Parkdepot
Whether the rule is clear and enforceable
Arndt Kempgens
Kempgens said customers would not expect separate visits to be added together and called the clause potentially surprising and invalid.
Parkdepot
Parkdepot says the 90-minute limit applies to the total of all parking visits in a day and is displayed on signs.
Reason for the daily limit
Arndt Kempgens
Kempgens argued that customers would likely understand a 90-minute maximum as applying to each shopping visit.
Parkdepot
Parkdepot says non-customers had deliberately evaded the previous limit by leaving and re-entering, and that 90 minutes is normally enough for several visits.
The customer parked at the Edeka car park twice, for a combined one hour and 52 minutes.
She received a notice from Parkdepot seeking a €30 contractual penalty for exceeding the 90-minute daily limit.
T-Online and BILD published reports about the case.
OP Online published a report identifying the customer as Martha Metz.
- Penalty
- €30
- Daily parking limit
- 90 minutes, combined across visits from 0:00 to 23:59
- Total parking time
- 1 hour and 52 minutes
- Visit date
- 9 October 2026
- Car park
- Edeka, Mühlenweg 10a, Mittenwald
- Parking operator
- Parkdepot, a Munich company
3 sources
What people are saying
That does not occur to anyone.
No customer would expect that. In my opinion, this is a surprising clause and therefore invalid.
In the past, non-customers repeatedly deliberately bypassed the rules.
In urban areas, this is quite common.