LIDL Athena 1st notice not received - help

Bat120

Hi

My son overstyed his welcome at a Lidl by 15 mins over the 90mins on 12 Sept. (he didn't notice he'd overstayed at the time) He left to go to China to university on 15th Sept so when Athena issued their first PCN on 15th Sept he was already out of the country. We assume we forwarded it on (unopened and unaware of its contents) as we do with some of his other post but that never reached him.
We have now received the 2nd letter stating he is liable for the full £90 as he didn't pay within the 28 days (which he would have done). We learned our lesson from the missing post and with his permission now open it instead!

We are obviously outside the 28 days of the normal appeal deadline so do we have a leg to stand on if we appeal?
Thoughts gratefully received.

Umkomaas

Email a complaint to Christian Haertnagel (do a forum search for posts containing his name) who is the M.D. of Lidl. In those posts you will also find ideas of what was said to him. He will cancel it (even though his Customer Service people won’t).

I’d set up a throwaway email address, looking as though it’s in your son’s name, using GMail or Hotmail, then you can do it all from home for him.

If the worst comes to the worst and Lidl won’t cancel, you can ignore anything else - Athena don’t do court. Alternatively you could give Athena your son’s address in China and tell them to contact him there.

Are you, or is he the Registered Keeper of the vehicle?

Bat120

Hi
Thanks for replying so quickly.
He's the registered keeper, at our address.

Cheers for the advice

Bat120

Should I copy in the athena appeals email address? Or email athena appeals at the same time separately?

pappa_golf

"I am the driver" , here is my currant address

see : http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/british-parking-association-put-up.html

Umkomaas

I’d keep communications separate.

The appeal for Athena (an IPC operator) is already templated for copying and pasting in the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, post #1. Just use it as is. It won’t provide a cancellation, but will show that you have engaged in their process.

The real result will come from Mr Haertnagel.

Umkomaas

Papa Golf’s suggestion is another option which will frustrate Athena’s attempt to hassle your son, especially if your son can send them something tangible to prove that he is resident in China, and you return anything they send to your address, marked ‘No longer at this address, please send to xxxxxx, xxxx, China’.

pappa_golf

do they sell xmas cards in china?