Lidl - Not Parking correctly

Timbrin66

Hi Guys

Any advice would be appreciated.

I read the newbie guide and quite a few threads but cant find one exactly like my situation.

Back in October I visited my local Lidl, The car park is free for 90 mins for Lidl customers

The car park was full and cars were driving around waiting for spaces to become available.
One side of the road leading into the car park also had cars parked along it. When one of these cars left I took its place.
The road into the car park is quite wide, there was still plenty of room for cars to pass both ways, it has no yellow lines and nothing to indicate parking is forbidden.
The nearest parking sign was about 100 feet away in front of the entrance to the store, there were no signs on the road.

I was in the store for 20mins and returned to my car to find a parking charge from Euro Parking Services for "Not parking correctly within the markings of the bay or space" it was £100 reduced to £60 if I paid within 14 days. Incidentally all the other cars parked on the road were gone, only my car remained.

The same day I contacted Lidl Customer Services via their online form and attached scans of the parking charge and my shopping receipt.
Lidl Customer Services emailed me a few days later and said they would appeal the fine on my behalf.

After that months went by but each time I received a letter from Euro Parking Services I contacted Lidl and asked how the appeal was progressing.
Their reply both times was "I am sorry for the delay in our response. I am currently investigating this matter with the relevant personnel and will contact you again as soon as I have an update"

I got a bit annoyed with Lidl and sent a more strongly worded email stating that I was a loyal customer and this was taking too long.
They replied that they had received no reply to the appeal and had now instructed the parking company to cancel the ticket.

Great I thought but two weeks ago I received a letter from Gladstones demanding £160 or a good reason not to take me to court.
I replied by recorded delivery that I had emails from the land owner that said they had instructed the parking company to cancel the ticket.
I also email lidl about the Gladstones letter and asked them to sort it out.

Today I received Lidl's reply and its not good news.
The short version is they cocked up and sent the appeal to the wrong parking company and they don't even own the car park so there is nothing they can do.
They suggest I contact Euro Parking Services immediately.

I guess I need to wait for the court papers or maybe Gladstones will take my letter at face value without checking.

I spent the last few hours researching parking contract law and I think I see a few defences if taken to court.

1. The part of the sign which states "I must be parked wholly within the confines of a marked bay" is forbidding so there is no consideration therefore no contract.
I see a lot of posts on the forum which say a sign which is wholly forbidding is not enforceable but what about a sign which is partly forbidding does it make any difference?

2. The part of the sign which states "I must be parked wholly with the confines of a marked bay" shows a diagram of a car parked across 2 bays which is confusing if it also forbids parking anywhere other than a bay. A key criteria for a contract to be in place is a meeting of minds.

Any idea what might happen next or advice on how to prepare in advance. I plan on fighting this all the way.

twhitehousescat

do lidl hire euro to look after their car park , (your post slightly confusing)

pogofish

Timbrin66 wrote: »

I read the newbie guide and quite a few threads but cant find one exactly like my situation.

The newbies Sticky covers your situation completely - PPC's don't actually care what happened, they just want money.

Timbrin66

twhitehousescat wrote: »

do lidl hire euro to look after their car park , (your post slightly confusing)

No they just emailed and said they don't own the car park.
I emailed them back to ask who did own it but it normally takes a couple of weeks to get a reply from their customer services.

Apparently the confusion arose because they do own most of their car parks and use a parking company called Athena so some idiot sent my appeal to Athena instead Euro Parking Services about a month ago Lidl emailed to say they would get the ticket cancelled but now they say they cant cancel the ticket because they just found out they dont own the car park.

twhitehousescat

ok now find out who owns it

Half_way

Were is this car park?

Timbrin66

Half_way wrote: »

Were is this car park?

Hi Half_Way
Do the parking companies monitor this forum? I'm not sure if its a good idea to post anything too specific.

The car park is in the Midlands and is shared by both a Lidl supermarket and a Travel Lodge.

I decided to phone Lidl customer services and ask who the owners were, they said a manager would contact me.

Half_way

Hi Half_Way
Do the parking companies monitor this forum?

Short answer, yes, anything posted on here is open and can be read by anyone, that is why it important not to reveal the drivers identity, terms like I drove, I parked, He parked, She parked, the wife/husband/brother/sister, mum, dad, aunt, freind etc should not be used, as this is an extra hurdle for PPCs to cross as they will have to adhere to the protection of freedoms act ( quite a few PPCs dont)

Location of the car park doesn't really matter in most cases, even if the PPC has identified you, you have nothing to fear as long as you are honest and truthful. the issues are at the other end of the stick and it is the parking companies who should be worried once they realise that a motorist /registered keeper is getting assistance, quite a few PPCs will take it to POPLA then drop and run ( fail to contest)