Parking fine from Athena Ltd for overstay in Lidl.

Darkrose_2

I have just received a fine from Athena Ltd for overstaying in a Lidl carpark. They say the maximum stay is 1 hour but I was there for 1 hour 32mins. I was shopping in Lidl but due to being disabled I take a very long time to shop. I have read the advice on the site and I've decided to ignore their letter as adviced on here.
Has anyone else had dealings with Athena? If so what has been the outcome?
Thanks to all of the lovely MSE forum members out there
:A

trisontana

Athena are well known on here and can be ignored. As you are disabled then you could sue them for not taking into account your disability when setting a stupid time limit for parking.

Tilt

1) You havn't received a fine... private concerns cannot issue fines.

2) You are correct in ignoring them and you should carry on doing just that. Also, do not contact them what so ever.

Have a nice day.

Stephen_Leak

Firstly, the legal stuff.

Any warning signs are usually so badly positioned and worded, that they won’t have created a fair and legally binding deemed contract between the car park owner and the driver in the first place. (The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1997.)

Even if there is a contract, all the car park owner can claim from the driver in damages for any breach of contract is what they’ve lost as a result. If this is a free car park or they paid, this is £0.00. By asking you for more, which is unreasonable, it’s become an unfair contract penalty, which is not legally enforceable. (Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. vs. New Garage & Motor Co. Ltd., House of Lords, 1914.)

Only councils, the police, train operators and Transport for London can impose legally enforceable fines or penalties. Private parking companies can't.

What do I do now?

Don’t appeal. They always reject them. What’s in it for them to let anyone off?

What’s in it for them is information. They need to know the identity of the driver of the vehicle involved at the time, because that’s who the alleged contract was with. If they don’t know who the driver was, they have to make do with chasing the registered keeper.

With windscreen notices, an appeal letter will tell them your name and address, and maybe that you were driving at the time. If they don’t know who the driver was, they have to buy the details of registered keeper from the DVLA.

With postal notices, they’ve done this already. But they still need to know the identity of the driver.

They sometimes say that they have the right to ask for this information. This doesn’t mean that you have to tell them.

However, even if you’ve written and confirmed who the driver was, it doesn’t make their actions any less unlawful. It just means that instead of unlawfully harassing the registered keeper, they can now unlawfully harass the driver.

What will they do to me?

They will send you a series of letters, then a debt collector and then a solicitor. The debt collector and solicitor are usually also the PPC, but using different headed paper. These will threaten you with all sorts of financial and legal unpleasantness, to intimidate you into paying.

But, they can't actually do anything, for the same reason that a blackmailer couldn't sue their victim if they didn’t pay.

What should I do then?

Continue to ignore everything you get from the PPC and their aliases. Yes, it does seem counter-intuitive to deal with something by ignoring it. Eventually, they will run out of empty threats to intimidate you with, and stop throwing good money after bad.

The Blue Badge scheme does not apply to private car parks. Anyone, who is disabled under the terms of The Equality Act 2010 can use a disabled parking bay. If they are also Blue Badge holders, they don't need to display it. No more than they need to ring a hand bell and shout, "Unclean".

The Equality Act doesn't say that able-bodied drivers can't also use disabled parking bays. OK, they shouldn't, but they can. This probably contravenes the contract terms & conditions for the car park.

But, the contract terms & conditions for the car park usually state that you shouldn't park in a disabled bay without displaying a badge. This contravenes The Equality Act.

Next time you go there, after 55 minutes, ask them to look after your trolley, as you're going to exceed the time limit for shopping with them as imposed by their parking company and have to leave the car park. Check if there's a "No return in ... hours" condition as well. I'd make sure that there was some frozen stuff in the trolley.

give_them_FA

When you say you are disabled, do you actually have a badge and was it displayed? If you write to them pointing it out you are on a win/win situation. Either they cancel the charge forthwith, or they leave themselves wide open for you to sue them.

esmerobbo

If they allow 1 hour parking then they must offer longer for a disabled person! Adequate adjustment M'lud!

They really should do some research!

You can safely ignore Athena!

Coupon-mad

Darkrose wrote: »

I have just received a fine from Athena Ltd for overstaying in a Lidl carpark. They say the maximum stay is 1 hour but I was there for 1 hour 32mins. I was shopping in Lidl but due to being disabled I take a very long time to shop. I have read the advice on the site and I've decided to ignore their letter as adviced on here.
Has anyone else had dealings with Athena? If so what has been the outcome?
Thanks to all of the lovely MSE forum members out there
:A

Here you go, they are breaking the law (but it's now the Equality Act 2010 which superceded the DDA):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8488737.stm

As already suggested I would write and tell them (retailer and PPC, both):

'I am disabled with xxxx condition which affects xxxx (add brief summary of your condition and how it can slow you down, if you want) so you cannot lawfully impose the same time restriction on my parking as other able-bodied customers have to adhere to. It is perfectly reasonable for me to take 32 minutes more. If your cameras are sending these claims to all your disabled customers who dare to take a little longer, like me, then you are breaking the law without ANY thought being given towards any reasonable adjustments. If you continue to pursue this 'ticket' then I will have no hesitation in taking the matter further, including suing you and your agent for harassment and breach of the Equality Act 2010'.

Win-win situation for you! The retailer may cancel it anyway, or if not, then you can sue for a tidy sum in compensation if the usual scary letters continue to arrive.

thelions123

Ignore. Just throw their letters in the bin. You could park there for ten hours if you wanted and there is nothing they can do.

Plushchris

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Here you go, they are breaking the law (but it's now the Equality Act 2010 which superceded the DDA):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8488737.stm

As already suggested I would write and tell them (retailer and PPC, both):

'I am disabled with xxxx condition which affects xxxx (add brief summary of your condition and how it can slow you down, if you want) so you cannot lawfully impose the same time restriction on my parking as other able-bodied customers have to adhere to. It is perfectly reasonable for me to take 32 minutes more. If your cameras are sending these claims to all your disabled customers who dare to take a little longer, like me, then you are breaking the law without ANY thought being given towards any reasonable adjustments. If you continue to pursue this 'ticket' then I will have no hesitation in taking the matter further, including suing you and your agent for harassment and breach of the Equality Act 2010'.

Win-win situation for you! The retailer may cancel it anyway, or if not, then you can sue for a tidy sum in compensation if the usual scary letters continue to arrive.

Thats exactly what I would do if I were the OP, not ignore them (in this case)