Athena are at it again!

Dianna67

Hi all,
I have been reading all of the amazing advice and guidance on these threads. I’ve read the newbies forum, the popla decisions, relevant template letters and all the replies from people like Coupon-mad and Crabman which are ACE! I used one of the template letters, which I amended accordingly and sent off to Athena as part of my online appeal against a PCN @ Lidl Liverpool (London Road).


I cited that I wasn’t the driver, mentioned confusing signage, extortionate fines, no contract and referred to all the BBC Watchdog and parliamentary complaints etc.. I asked for information on the landowner grace period and any other pictures of my vehicle on the day. (I received no info on the grace period and no additional pics).


As you always advise; they rejected my appeal and mentioned the 2012 POFA legislation. I am now invited to take the dispute up with the IAS via an ADR. No mention of POPLA!


I have contacted Lidl customer services with 3 months of bank statements showing loyalty and explained that someone else was driving and shopping that day. I can prove my whereabouts too. I am awaiting their reply.


So before I submit anything to IAS, does anyone have any pointers for me? Their letter meets seems to be in compliance with their obligations to inform me of specific information. Therefore, I’m going to focus on = confusing signage, no contract, no reasonable grace period, not a genuine pre-estimate of loss. Anything else?


Dianna

Redx

Read the Newbies FAQ sticky thread near the top of the forum , especially the don't bother with the kangaroo court IAS part

Not a genuine pre estimate of loss died with the 2015 Beavis case , no idea where you got that ancient option from ?

Cancellation by Luck is the only option here , so you should have emailed their CEO , like everyone else is told to do on here

Did you check their NTK against POFA ?

Popla was never on offer as they are IPC AOS members , so no idea where you got the idea that popla would be offered ?

Dianna67

Thanks v much for the additional information. Yes, from what I can tell; their NTK seems in line with POFA. I cross referenced the info on my letter with a list of their obligations that I found buried in a thread on here.


I'm heading over to the IAS part of the sticky now. Thanks.


Apologies that some of my findings are out of date, but there is a lot of information on here and its not easy to keep up to date with everything. I've done my best to read and research before posting on here.


Are Lidl still in a position to cancel the PCN, even though my 1st appeal has been denied?


Dianna

Redx

They are always in that position , as landowner or principal

It's not easy for us to keep up to date either

Umkomaas

You’re totally overthinking this. It’s only Athena!

I have contacted Lidl customer services with 3 months of bank statements showing loyalty and explained that someone else was driving and shopping that day. I can prove my whereabouts too. I am awaiting their reply

See what they say, but it might well be the standard customer services fob-off. Should you get one of those you need to revise your strategy by reading other Lidl threads about how to correctly go about obtaining a virtually guaranteed cancellation.

A little clue for you ‘Haertnagel’. Do a forum search on that name, and away you go!

HOW TO USE THE FORUM SEARCH FUNCTION:

Hit your 'Back' button to get back to the forum thread list. On the bar just above the threads you'll see the 'Search' function. Click on the 'Advanced Search' button and on the following page place your keyword(s) in the 'Search By Keyword(s)' and make sure the 'Show Results As' button (at the foot of the window) is changed from 'Threads' to 'Posts'.

Dianna67

Cheers guys, I'm in awe of your collective knowledge. I'm actually having fun researching all this (sad I know).


I'm going to aim for the big boss then, whilst also putting together an appeal for IAS, based on the information I found under the IAS decisions thread. There are many of those points that apply to my case.


Ill keep you posted for future reference.


Dianna

Le_Kirk

Dianna67 wrote: »

I'm going to aim for the big boss then, whilst also putting together an appeal for IAS, based on the information I found under the IAS decisions thread. There are many of those points that apply to my case.

Which bit of the NEWBIE sticky that said DON'T bother with IAS did you not understand. They will reject any appeal you put forward. Better to focus on the CEO aspect and keep your powder dry for a defence in small claims court (if it comes to that).

Redx

I agree , it's better to bypass the flawed IAS because of 2 reasons

1) you don't want an unsuccessful appeal brought up in Court

2) you don't want your cards on the table too early

The Haertnagel complaint is the way forward if CS reject your complaint

Dianna67

Geez, it's not easy to navigate all the different cases. There were a couple of successful ones. Go easy on me lar. Okay, so my POA is to put everything into the CEO... Do I literally just let my 14 days run their course regarding IAS?

Redx

You literally ignore the PPC and IAS etc

You literally concentrate on getting the landowner or retailer to cancel asap

In the future , you would only deal with a formal letter of claim , and or an MCOL court claim

The_Deep

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Nine times out of ten of these tickets are scams so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra work.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.[/FONT]