Parking Charge Athena Lidl

Tommy_HG

Hi I have read the Newbie page stuff, or tried to, there is so much there I felt bamboozled by it all. Well done and thanks to whoever put it together though - a lot of work! Anyway, I was using Lidl car park as it's conveniently placed for my accountant's office and offers free parking for 90 mins. Annoyingly, my meeting took longer than expected and I ended up staying 1hr 47mins. I would have happily paid something to cover the excess but £90? Reduced to £45 etc etc as many others have pointed out. It was an empty car park and that amount is just not justifiable?

Can someone advise me who to write to? Or am I wasting my time as I wasn't shopping? I loathe the idea of paying these people £45 in what is basically a scam.

Thanks

Fruitcake

First of all you appeal to Athena using the template appeal in the NEWBIES thread. The details of where to send the appeal should be on the NTK that came through the post.


If/when they reject it, you either ignore for six years or make an IPC appeal then ignore for six years. Only you can decide whether to appeal or ignore if the PPC rejects your initial appeal.
If you do decide to make a second stage appeal, use the template in the Parking-Prankster's BlogSpot detailing the reasons for rejecting the IAS appeal system as not meeting the legal requirements for ADR, and demand that the Ombudsman Service is used instead.

Tommy_HG

Thanks for the response. But all these acronyms are confusing the hell out of me...

PPC? ADR? Have worked out IPC.

Really want to know, do I need to pay it? Will anything bad happen if I don't?

As for the template, where on the newbies page? the stuff I read was like War & Peace and I really couldn't work out what I should and shouldn't do... What does this template look like?

Apreciate I am being slow but this is all a bit beyond me?

Thanks

Redx

the template is in post #1 of the NEWBIES sticky thread, third thread down from the top of the forum AND IS IN BLUE TEXT for clarity

the acronyms are explained in post #2 of that same thread, to save on us repeating them all the time , like I am sure you know what BBC and BT mean without us having to write them out in full

the worst case scenario is a court case a bit like Judge Rinder, where you will either win or lose

the BPA CoP mentions £100 as being the "norm"

the Supreme Court ruled on this aspect last wednesday (or on £85 but lets not quibble) and decided it was fair and reasonable, so their lordships ideas differ from yours and ours, but they ruled it ok in law so thats that (for now)

ie:- they say that it IS JUSTIFIABLE and that it is a penalty to deter people like yourself from parking on private land and not using their facilities (in this case not shopping there) - to keep parking spaces free for legitimate shoppers only

in your case Athena is an IPC member so popla isnt available, the IAS is a kangaroo court and perhaps another Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is preferable (see parking pranksters blog from 8 days ago)

Guys_Dad

Whereas I agree 100% with the comment about the charge being a scam, I wonder if your use of a business' car park for the purpose of visiting your accountant would attract the label of "chancer" .

Unless, of course, there was some planning consent that made the car park an open one.

However, Redx's advice, as usual, is pertinent to your particular case, but if it gets to ADR or court, I suggest you don't broadcast your particular circumstances.

Tommy_HG

Thanks both, this is more hassle, and is taking up more time, than it's worth - will just bite the bullet and learn the hard way. Again thanks.

Umkomaas

Tommy_HG wrote: »

Thanks both, this is more hassle, and is taking up more time, than it's worth - will just bite the bullet and learn the hard way. Again thanks.

Rather than pay up under duress, you could simply ignore it and see what happens. You'll get debt collector letters for almost certain, but they are powerless (see newbies sticky post #4) - they cannot issue proceedings against you.

Should it come to a LBA (Letter Before Action) from Athena (not from the debt collectors) or stamped court papers, you could just pay it then, albeit at the non-discounted rate. Athena aren't noted for being litigious.

Just an alternative option for you to consider........

Tommy_HG

Thanks, will ponder that

Tommy_HG

@Umkomaas After your kind advice above, I have decided to go down this route. So basically I do nothing unless I get a LBA from Athena or stamped court papers. If I get either of these, Do you know if the original £90 will bail me out? Or will I incur other charges?

Again thanks

AberdeenTyke

If it was me I would have gone into Lidl and picked up any old receipt off the floor, on that date. That would be my "proof of shopping". Then appeal to Lidl. They'll quash it. Maybe next time, eh?

Guys_Dad

AberdeenTyke wrote: »

If it was me I would have gone into Lidl and picked up any old receipt off the floor, on that date. That would be my "proof of shopping". Then appeal to Lidl. They'll quash it. Maybe next time, eh?

I like that solution for ticketed car parks, but without a TARDIS, it has problems for ANPR. :rotfl: