Private Parking Notice - leaving the country

vkrishna11

Hello friends,
I'm yet another victim of the dreaded 'Lidl - Athena' parking fine phenomenon. I, apparently, overstayed for 14 mins above the 10 mins timelimit and had been charged with £95.

I've written to Lidl stating that the charge is ridiculously high for overstaying just for 14 mins while I was busy shopping at Lidl. Also, provided them a snapshot of my bank statement outlining card payments to them.
But alas, all they want me to do is appeal to the car park management. Now, I'm not sure what else I could provide them as a proof, as most people wont keep grocery reciepts for more than few days. Forus, it usually goes into the bin ASAP .
All that I have is the bank statement to prove my shopping activity which Lidl says they can't accept as an evidence.
This definitely is an unwanted and unreasonable charge for no intentional fault of mine. I really dont want to pay them even a penny after all the effort I've put in to to reach out to lidl to get my charge cancelled.
I generally wont mind paying up if it is reasonable & if i'm at fault which is certainly not in this instance.

By the way, I'm not a British citizen and will be permanently moving abroad within a month or so. Will be selling off my car and all belongings soon.
Please could you let me know if I can simply ignore this charge - without any negative consequences?
I might visit UK again on business visa for short term in future. Please let me know if you think I might face any problems coming back on business visa.
Regards,
Krishna

pogofish

Please read the Newbies Sticky and post this in the correct forum!

Bradden

Ten mins time limit for a supermarket seem crazy to me? Was it just a drop off point or is all the car park like that.
I can queue for ten minutes in Lidl.. let alone shop!

vkrishna11

Well, it was indeed for the Car park. Apparently, we ought to register our car number at their computer kiosk to be able to stay longer. However, the regular Lidl store we visit has no such time restrictions at all. In this instance, however, we happened to visit a different Lidl store and fell prey to unusual restrictions.

Richard53

If you're moving abroad in a few weeks, I would ignore it. They are hardly going to call Interpol over a parking fine. And you won't be on a criminal database for future visits either. You will be way outside the cost/benefit envelope.


Not a lawyer; just my opinion.