Do I have to pay a civil parking charge notice?

xxxpinkladyxxx

I parked in Lidles the other day and I thought they gave you 90 minutes free parking but obviously I was wrong as I've just received a civil parking charge notice from Athena ANPR Ltd as I overstayed by a short while. My fault, should have checked the parking terms but I didn't. But I've read that you don't have to pay these. Is that true? I'm on maternity leave at the moment and every penny I can save is obviously what I want but I don't really want bailiffs turning up at my door for the sake of £45. Should I just suck it up and pay it or can you ignore these?

Stroma

Okay a few things

1) is this England or Wales ?
2) did you get the notice to keeper within 14 days?
3) have you complained to Lidl's yet? If not why ?
4) have you contacted Athena at all?

Thanks

xxxpinkladyxxx

Happened in England, yes received notice within 14 days, no haven't complained to Lidles as only just received the notice and because technically, I was in the wrong as I did overstay. Haven't contacted Athena. Just to add, the fine does include 2 pictures with the time of my car entering the car park and leaving but you can't see who is driving the car.

Half_way

Do I have to pay a civil parking charge notice?

Short answer - no.

long answer: complain to Lidl, state that they are charging an unjust penalty charge and you will not be paying a penny of it, also mention that the letter that you have received form their agents is incredibly threatening and that they (lidl) must tell their agents to stop sending these letters immediately. also state that as Athena are agents acting for lidl, lidl are responsible for the actions of their agents.

To athena ( via e-mail if possible to save on costs)
Re parking charge notice XXXX You have no valid reason to charge this amount ( or any amount for that matter) You are not a statory authority, in fact you are not an authority at all.
Your charge is entirely without merit, and as such I am now ordering you to send me confirmation that you have cancelled this charge as well as a full apology and assurances that you will not do this again.
If you do not agree to the above then you must send me a POPLA verification code so that this matter may be challenged independently.
Please note that I will be logging any time spent on constructing and submitting a POPLA challenge, as well as keeping a record of any costs incurred as a result which I will be holding yourselves and Lidl liable for.
If you do not comply with the above then I may consider taking action against you and lidl for the harrasment and worry that your threatening letter has caused.

4consumerrights

Many of these car parks with limited free parking times are also in breach of local planning consent regulations and indeed planning consent is also required for use of the CCTV/ANPR systems.

Read these couple of sticky threads at the top of the page

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4766249

and

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

and make sure that when you complain to Lidls you do so forceably

"as a loyal customer who frequents you store often and dismayed and angry to be treated in this manner etc" - if you can provide copies of receipts or redacted bank statements showing debit card details so much the better.

Buzby

You overlook the fact Lidl offer parking whilst shopping, not a free place to stop and do other things.

Planning consent for ANPR is an irrelevance and nothing to concern the OP, unless additional (possibly non productive) busy-work is required by complaining to the Council's Planning Dept - which will not affect the pursuit of payment one jot.

Half_way

You overlook the fact Lidl offer parking whilst shopping, not a free place to stop and do other things.

Although in some cases the Supermarket/stores have only granted planing permission to open if they also provided car parking for people to use whilst shopping in the local area

Umkomaas

Buzby wrote: »

You overlook the fact Lidl offer parking whilst shopping, not a free place to stop and do other things.

Where exactly does the OP say that she 'stopped and did other things'? And how do you know that planning permission precluded 'stopping and doing other things'?

Coupon-mad

Buzby wrote: »

You overlook the fact Lidl offer parking whilst shopping, not a free place to stop and do other things.

Buzby you have overlooked the fact the OP is on maternity leave!

As such she is/was clearly either pregnant at the time or has just had a baby (and I have checked the OP's recent posts for approx. dates!). It is a fact that she is covered by the Equality Act 2010. Women are covered up to six months after the birth and the Act applies just as much to service providers as it does to workplace situations.

It's illegal to cause indirect sex discrimination against a certain section of the female population by virtue of a 'blanket policy' (such as a time limit which is inflexible and arbitrary).

Protected people under the Act cannot be caused any detriment for anything arising as a result of features of their condition. And a pregnant lady, or one who has recently given birth (whether or not the baby was with her) can easily argue they were slowed down by that fact, when shopping...ever tried it Buzby? I have!

xxxpinkladyxxx, please read these examples and complain to the CEO (you could also try the Store Manager in person but be assertive and don't give up):

#1 MD OF LIDL UK & ATHENA - http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=83076

#2 MD OF LIDL UK & ATHENA - http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=83429

There is an 'official complaint' letter you can adapt/amend to suit, in this thread, which I wrote to Morrisons about this sort of discrimination. It worked!:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4762460

and also simply put in a challenge in the name of the registered keeper as you will find explained here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

DO NOT ID YOURSELF AS THE DRIVER EVEN IF THE SAME PERSON AS THE KEEPER!

Talk about the driver in the third person 'I am the registered keeper am informing you that the driver that day was covered by the Equality Act 2010 and so it is illegal for you to impose an arbitrary time limit which causes discrimination to protected groups of the population. The driver was {pregnant/only xx weeks past having given birth} and this means they were slower than normal to complete their shopping and are covered by the Equality Act...blah blah ... talk about the ticket being unfair and a penalty, and talk about Athena not being the landowners...see the links already given.

By the way look at other Athena threads recently as we have seen that their signage tries to argue their charge as being a 'contractually agreed sum for parking'. This means you can't rely as much as most people on 'no genuine pre-estimate of loss' as a shoo-in at POPLA. You'll need more stuff about no landowner contract which allows them to take their charges to court in their own name...etc.

BUT THAT'S FOR POPLA STAGE, JUST FLAGGING IT UP NOW IN CASE LIDL DON'T CANCEL THIS FOR YOU.

The_Deep

I am afraid Busboy has form for offering misleading advice, he is not the oracle he thinks he is, best to ignore him

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4198909=

Hovite_2

Buzby wrote: »

You overlook the fact Lidl offer parking whilst shopping, not a free place to stop and do other things.

Sigh ...... another untruth !

I'm getting a little tired saying this, so this time I will shout it :

ALDI PORTSLADE !!!!!!!!!!!!!