Athena ANPR - Lidl x 2

jcarver007

Hi All,

I received 2 pcn's in post from Athena and contested both in emails to them using template and stating I was the registered keeper and I was not going to divulge the id of the driver. Looking for advice on what to do next following their responses shown below:

21/3/2018
"....A parking charge notice has been issued for the alleged parking incident. You had the option of either paying this outstanding parking charge or advising us in writing who the driver was at the time of their current address.

You did submit a written appeal but this was rejected and the reason for this explained in our last letter. We have not received payment and consequently under schedule 4 of the protection of freedoms act 2012 as the registered keeper of the vehicle you are liable for the full parking charge which is now overdue.

To avoid further action please ensure payment is sent within the next seven days.

Failure to pay the parking charge within the time period described may result in Athena ANPR transferring your case to a debt collection company or to further legal proceedings where additional costs could be incurred....."

The other reply for another pcn stated:

21/2/2018
"The terms on which customers are alowed to use the car park are very clearly stipulated on the signage and drivers have the option not to park there if they disagree. There are sufficient number of signs in the car park, which clearly state that if you fail to comply with the terms you will be liable to pay the parking charge. When you drove into the car park and parked your vehicle, you agreed to the contractual terms detailed on the signage.

Therefore we are entitled under those terms to require you to pay the parking charge and to then take enforcement action against you if you refuse or fail to pay."

Obviously I wont be giving into them but would like to know what my next course of action is. As far as I can tell IAS is flawed and not impartial. Also surely if I am the keeper they cannot force me to pay for actions of a driver. They wrongly imply I was the driver even though I have stated I was not.

Do I await the bailiffs with baited breath or can I take the matter further citing harassment by Athena?

Thankyou

Quentin

You won't get bailiffs! (Unless you ignored a ccj at some point in the future)

See the newbies FAQ thread on what to do after the inevitable rejected appeal to IPC companies

Ignore everything except a lbcca or Court correspondence

They have 6 years to start legal action against you.

Come back for advice on how to defend this at the time should it come to this

The_Deep

Some reading for you

https://www.bing.com/search?q=parking+fine+at+lidl&form=EDNTHT&mkt=en-gb&httpsmsn=1&refig=901db60acb8945cacde8df7376b6e2fa&PC=ACTS&sp=-1&ghc=1&pq=parking+fine+at+lidl&sc=1-20&qs=n&sk=&cvid=901db60acb8945cacde8df7376b6e2fa

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and another company have already been named and shamed, as has Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each year). They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

Hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned.

The problem has become so rampant that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Watch the video of the Second Reading in the HofC recently.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by Christmas.

Redx

a landowner cancellation is your best bet

if they followed POFA2012 then they can hold the keeper responsible and so dont need the driver details

any driver details that are divulged are the icing on their cake

Umkomaas

Were you a genuine customer of Lidl on both the days in question?

Are you a regular Lidl customer?

If you can answer 'yes' to either or both, it's very likely you can get cancellation via Lidl's CEO, Christian Haertnagel.

Coupon-mad

Amazed that more people don't simply search the forum for 'Athena' or Lidl' and find out these are cancelled every time by Lidl, when people complain. And even more amazed people don't complain to the supermarkets first.

jcarver007

Umkomaas wrote: »

Were you a genuine customer of Lidl on both the days in question?

Are you a regular Lidl customer?

If you can answer 'yes' to either or both, it's very likely you can get cancellation via Lidl's CEO, Christian Haertnagel.

As an update, it would seem that Lidl have spoken to Athena and where I had contacted Lidl previously to get a parking charge cancelled they have refused on this occasion.

Also it would seem that if you contact Lidl as the driver asking for them to contact the parking company to get it overturned, they can refuse and pass on your request to the parking company. Therefore if you have already contacted the parking company claiming to only be the driver then it creates a tricky situation.

jcarver007

So their latest letter outlines enforcement action. Do they have the ability to get a bailiffs warrant of execution, attachment of earnings order or third party debt order?

Quentin

jcarver007 wrote: »

So their latest letter outlines enforcement action. Do they have the ability to get a bailiffs warrant of execution, attachment of earnings order or third party debt order?

See #2 above!!

nosferatu1001

Only if they take you to court, win, and you refuse to pay up.

Coupon-mad

Not going to happen.

As an update, it would seem that Lidl have spoken to Athena and where I had contacted Lidl previously to get a parking charge cancelled they have refused on this occasion.

Also it would seem that if you contact Lidl as the driver asking for them to contact the parking company to get it overturned, they can refuse and pass on your request to the parking company. Therefore if you have already contacted the parking company claiming to only be the driver then it creates a tricky situation.

You appear to have believed a Customer Service person. Sometimes people do get knocked back first but they don't give up with the complaint.

Contact Mr Haertnagel like the 'SUCCESSFUL COMPLAINTS ABOUT PPCS' thread tells you to do. It's a link in the NEWBIES thread, first thing to do is complain to Lidl's CEO.

Try again. Everyone manages to get Athena ones cancelled this way. It's only a tricky situation because you are believing it is. Lidl can cancel, and will.