Aleksandr, a business student at RMIT, parked his car at ‘Park Super Safe’. At the time of entry, he was given a ticket by the ticket machine. The ticket indicated which parking space he was allocated, along with the date and time the ticket was set to expire. However, Aleksandr did not check the back of the ticket which listed, in substantially smaller print, several terms, including the following:
Park Super Safe takes no responsibility for any damage caused to any vehicle, parked or otherwise on Park Super Safe premises, however, such damage may be caused. Occupants use Park Super Safe at their own risk.
After he parked his car, he walked into his local game store and saw a copy of the latest game, ‘Call to war: invasion’, with a price tag of $8.99. Aleksandr knew that the game usually retails for $89.99 so he quickly picked up the last remaining copy from the shelf and hurried over to the cashier. The game was scanned, and the price came up at $89.99. Aleksandr was unimpressed and took the cashier to the shelf where the price clearly showed that the price of the game was $8.99. He pointed out that the shop had made an offer to sell him the game for $8.99 and that he was legally accepting this offer, thus creating a contract. The cashier disagreed and stated that this was merely a typographical error and that the price of the game is in fact $89.99.
Aleksandr was disappointed and returned to his car without the game. When Aleksandr approached his car, he noticed that both back lights had been smashed and there were scratch marks along the paintwork. When Aleksandr opened his car, he also found that the glovebox has been forced open and his rent money worth $1,000 was gone. Aleksandr immediately reported the incident to the car park attendant. However, it took him 20 minutes to fill in the incident report and during this time his car was stolen because he forgot his keys in the car. Also, his car insurance had expired a few days prior to this incident.
Questions:
- Is there a contract between Aleksandr and the game store, and Aleksandr and the car park?
- Is the term at the back of the parking ticket valid in contract?
- Would Aleksandr be entitled to damages against the game store or the car park (or both)?
- Would Aleksandr have a claim under the Australian consumer law against the game store or the carpark (or both)?
