lidl parking charge

seanjamie

Hi This is my first time in a forum. In September I received a letter from Athena ANPR Ltd saying I had overstayed by 16 minutes in Lidl car park in Dundee Overgate. I was invoiced for £90 charge (reduced to £45 if paid in 14 days). The photos provided showed my car entering and leaving with a given time and date but since 2 weeks had passed I did not have my receipt from lidl where I had been shopping (although admittedly not for the full time) I visited various web pages looking for advice on how to deal with this and 100% said to ignore which I did. After various reminders and threats with legal action I have just received a letter from LRC Ltd re an outstanding account of £115 for Athena ANRP ltd stating unless payment is received by 11.00am on Monday 22 November proceedings may be issued and I may be required to pay judicial expenses and interest. HELP!! What do I do now?

Thanks - very worried granny:(

Ezmondino

Continue ignoring. "May" is the key word there.

bromsgrovebarry

Legal proceedings MAY be issued, like hell they will! This is a toothless threat designed to scare you into paying. It is a nasty begging letter with no legal validity.

Orford

seanjamie wrote: »

I have just received a letter from LRC Ltd re an outstanding account of £115 for Athena ANRP ltd stating unless payment is received by 11.00am on Monday 22 November proceedings may be issued and I may be required to pay judicial expenses and interest. HELP!! What do I do now?

Keep ignoring, the key words are 'may'. If they were so sure of their case, they wouldn't hesitate to issue a court claim, so you have to wonder why they are so reluctant to do so. It's because they prefer bullying and intimidation to actually having to appear in court

rrf494g

and it is the amount of money they expect from you that you dispute, then I would send them a cheque for what you (and any court) would consider a "fair" amount (eg if parking is £1 per hour and you overstay by 1 hour, then £1 would be a fair amount). I would send this recorded delivery, with a letter saying that you consider it full payment.

This ensures that no private company is ever likely to go to court, as in court they could only sue for the "damage done" or "loss of earnings". No private organisation can invent "fines", as it requires legal authority to impose fines. Private organisations can only sue for damages that the court has to agree are reasonable.

There is also the moral consideration that if you did overstay your parking, it is only fair that you pay a fair amount. But your morals are your own business.

torontoboy45

rrf494g wrote: »

and it is the amount of money they expect from you that you dispute, then I would send them a cheque for what you (and any court) would consider a "fair" amount (eg if parking is £1 per hour and you overstay by 1 hour, then £1 would be a fair amount). I would send this recorded delivery, with a letter saying that you consider it full payment.

This ensures that no private company is ever likely to go to court, as in court they could only sue for the "damage done" or "loss of earnings". No private organisation can invent "fines", as it requires legal authority to impose fines. Private organisations can only sue for damages that the court has to agree are reasonable.

There is also the moral consideration that if you did overstay your parking, it is only fair that you pay a fair amount. But your morals are your own business.

all well and good but I'm not sure I'd follow this advice. it could amount to an admission of liability. the scammers surely wouldn't accept £1 in good grace; they'd rack up the intimidation for the rest of what it claims you 'owe' instead.

taffy056

rrf494g wrote: »

and it is the amount of money they expect from you that you dispute, then I would send them a cheque for what you (and any court) would consider a "fair" amount (eg if parking is £1 per hour and you overstay by 1 hour, then £1 would be a fair amount). I would send this recorded delivery, with a letter saying that you consider it full payment.

Okay presume for one moment we use use your advice, so £1 for one hour of parking is fair, but as it was a free car park, the actual loss to them is the grand sum of £0.00p precisely so send them nothing!

backfoot

rrf494g wrote: »

and it is the amount of money they expect from you that you dispute, then I would send them a cheque for what you (and any court) would consider a "fair" amount (eg if parking is £1 per hour and you overstay by 1 hour, then £1 would be a fair amount). I would send this recorded delivery, with a letter saying that you consider it full payment.

This ensures that no private company is ever likely to go to court, as in court they could only sue for the "damage done" or "loss of earnings". No private organisation can invent "fines", as it requires legal authority to impose fines. Private organisations can only sue for damages that the court has to agree are reasonable.

There is also the moral consideration that if you did overstay your parking, it is only fair that you pay a fair amount. But your morals are your own business.

Complete rubbish. There is no loss whatsoever.

Moral consideration for 16 minutes :rotfl:. These jokers make up a £90 charge escalating as they see fit and you lecture about morals. :T

rrf494g

since when is saying "your morals are your own business" a lecture?

I think some posters may be over sensitive about any suggestion that our conduct should be governed by some morals (even if these are set by ourself).

My post actually suggested that the OP send whatever they consider to be fair. I think that suggestion is less lecturing than posts which tell the OP about what "others" consider the fair outcome would be.

taffy056

rrf494g wrote: »

since when is saying "your morals are your own business" a lecture?

I think some posters may be over sensitive about any suggestion that our conduct should be governed by some morals (even if these are set by ourself).

My post actually suggested that the OP send whatever they consider to be fair. I think that suggestion is less lecturing than posts which tell the OP about what "others" consider the fair outcome would be.

What is fair is to pay nothing to them, they have no loss in the car park, the OP poster did shop at the place, if you send them anything you are basically accepting their terms, and if it did go to court you would have accepted their terms, and revealed who is the driver of the vehicle!

They don't own the land, they have no loss, basically ignore is the right thing to do , like 550k have done in a year of PPCs issuing tickets, that is over 70% of tickets not paid!

rrf494g

a first post and a pretty representative response. Lots of people ready to tell you what to do. It's up to you to sort through and work out which responses come from people who are speaking from their own viewpoint, bias and history and which are trying to speak from yours.

Don't worry, as per my first post, in the extreme case that legal action is taken, only compensation for actual loss or damage can be sought, together with costs of action. As for the legal case against "admitting liability" raised by one post, it seemed from your original post that it was clear that the (brief) overstay had taken place and it was not going to be contested. If you plan to say it never happened, then perhaps indeed, you should not send any communication. Good Luck.