Athena ANPR ltd scam mail received

DTDfanBoy

I managed to exceed the parking time limit by 15 minutes and my wife received the usual scam letter from Athena ANPR ltd. I was driving the car at the time but we haven't shared that information with the lovely folks at Athena yet

I appealed to them 2 weeks ago, basically said I was appealing as I don't believe a contract is in place which allows them to bill me £90.

I received this email from them a week ago

Thank you for your email in regards to the above parking charge.

In order for us to deal with your appeal we would firstly like to request if you have any proof of shopping for the day or for other dates in the form of a receipt or bank statement.

If you were not shopping in the store on the day or are not a Lidl regular shopper please kindly advise us accordingly so that we can proceed with the review process.

Please do feel free to contact us with any other questions/queries you may have.

Regards

Athena ANPR Ltd :T

I assume it some sort of stalling tactic, but I haven't seen this email mentioned in a couple of other Athena threads I skimmed so I figured I'd post it here.

I emailed back telling them to get shove their request where the sun doesn't shine

I wish they'd hurry up and reject my appeal so I can get my POPLA code :beer:




Here's a photo of the sign that was in the carpark I used, I assume it's compliant.

I'll keep updating this thread as I work my way through the process

bazster

Good grief, what an utterly incompetent sign.

You have told us that you can't always find a parking space when shopping at our store.

And at the bottom there is a Lidl logo which is many times larger than any reference to Athena ANPR.

It is as plain as the nose on your face that the offer of parking is being made by Lidl, not Athena ANPR. At best, Athena ANPR is Lidl's agent, but since the principal (Lidl) is disclosed Athena ANPR has no right to take any action in its own name.

And of course, since it is a free car park, you are giving Lidl no consideration in return for permission to park, hence there is no contract with Lidl either.

And what about "Profit from parking charges will be donated to an appointed charity"? I'd get Trading Standards onto that one: if the "appointed charity" turns out to be Athena ANPR then that would be misrepresentation.

The_Slithy_Tove

Quiz question: what is wrong with this pr!cis of the notice -
"You've told us you can't find a space when shopping at our store, so to fix this, we're allowing only 10 minutes' parking when we're closed."

DTDfanBoy

I've just been reading through the Civil Parking Charge Notice I received from Athena. They have written the following

You have the responsibility under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA) of either paying this outstanding charge yourself or if you were not the driver advising us in writing within 28 days who the driver was at the time and their current address using the contact information below. You will also need to pass this notice on to the driver for payment.

The text in BOLD above was printed in red ink.

I've just read through the applicable schedule of the act, and it is very clear that the act doesn't mean the RK has a responsibility to do any of the above, the act just enables the parking company to chase the RK if they choose not to disclose the identity of the driver.

Unsurprisingly Athena seems to have a very different understanding of the act, and seem to have no problems being deceitful in order to place pressure on the unsuspecting to pay their outrageous charges.

It this worthy of a complaint to DVLA and/or the BPA ??

The_Slithy_Tove

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

I've just read through the applicable schedule of the act, and it is very clear that the act doesn't mean the RK has a responsibility to do any of the above, the act just enables the parking company to chase the RK if they choose not to disclose the identity of the driver.

Unsurprisingly Athena seems to have a very different understanding of the act, and seem to have no problems being deceitful in order to place pressure on the unsuspecting to pay their outrageous charges.

It this worthy of a complaint to DVLA and/or the BPA ??

Well done for reading the Act. You are quite right, all they can do is ask you to name the driver, you have no obligation to do so.

Athena aren't the only ones who are "trying it on", to use a polite phrase for their underhand tactics. They are probably fully aware of what the Act actually says, but are attempting to bend the law to suit themselves.

As with other threads where this has come up, yes, a complaint is always worthwhile, for their misrepresentation of your obligations. The drip, drip, drip of numerous complaints, preferably from different people (not the "usual suspects" who send in complaints on others' behalf) may eventually lead to sanctions against these people.

DTDfanBoy

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

Quiz question: what is wrong with this pr!cis of the notice -
"You've told us you can't find a space when shopping at our store, so to fix this, we're allowing only 10 minutes' parking when we're closed."

Crazy isn't it, the council involved don't have access to planning applications online, but I've emailed them requesting copies of all planning conditions of the site. I'll be interested to see if the property in question has permission to charge for parking

nigelbb

This is also a matter for Trading Standards when they misrepresent the law in an attempt to deceive you. Quite possibly it is also the criminal offence of attempting to obtain pecuniary advantage by deception i.e. fraud.

Orrin

nigelbb wrote: »

This is also a matter for Trading Standards when they misrepresent the law in an attempt to deceive you. Quite possibly it is the criminal offence of attempting to obtain pecuniary advantage by deception i.e. fraud.

Don't forget that anyone who pays the charge on the basis of the misrepresentation can potentially sue Athena for it back!

nigelbb

Orrin wrote: »

Don't forget that anyone who pays the charge on the basis of the misrepresentation can potentially sue Athena for it back!

Now that would make for an interesting case to actually go on the attack & sue a PPC for a change. I recall that some people successfully sued clampers although actually getting the money back was more of a challenge.

bazster

Orrin wrote: »

Don't forget that anyone who pays the charge on the basis of the misrepresentation can potentially sue Athena and Lidl for it back!

Fixed for you!

Orrin

nigelbb wrote: »

Now that would make for an interesting case to actually go on the attack & sue a PPC for a change. I recall that some people successfully sued clampers although actually getting the money back was more of a challenge.

Not sure how easy it would be to prove deceit but could be worth a punt at small claims and would certainly generate some bad press for the PPC and Lidl.

Interesting write up here:

http://www.dwf.co.uk/news/legal-updates/payback-using-the-tort-of-deceit-as-a-weapon-against-fraudsters/