LIDL ParkingEye Charge - went back in for a second shop

info_maniac

So, received a parking eye £90 charge for exceeding the 90 minutes at my local LIDL.

Went with wife for the weekly shop on a Sunday.

Entered car park at 15:16:02, parked the car and went inside the store. (This entry time is mentioned on the PCN received.)

I was under the impression that the store closes at 16:00 so started winding up at 16:05 and went to the tills (long queues).

Paid at 16:20 (£75) and came out a minute later and started walking towards the car. Receipt was added to my Lidl plus account with 16:20 as payment time.


While waling out, wife saw that the store closes at 17:00 instead of 16:00, so decided that we should go inside and buy the breadmaker she always wanted. We took 5 minutes to look up the breakmaker online and decided to buy it.

So we went back into the store again (around 16:30), picked up the breadmaker and a few other bits and bobs and paid at the tills at 16:53 (paid £65)

We came back to the car and left the car park at 16:57:39.

Now, we received the penalty charge notice for £90.

Today is the last date to pay it at reduced charge of of £45.



In summary,

Vehicle entered Lidl car park - 15:16:02
Paid for the first shop - 16:20 (£75) - I have receipt as proof
Came to the car around - 16:22
Went back inside the store around - 16:30
Paid for the second shop - 16:53 (£65) - wife paid for it and she has receipt as proof
Vehicle left Lidl car park - 16:57:39


So, we have two receipts:

- I paid for the first shop (£75) and scanned my Lidl plus card
- Wife paid for the second shop (£65) and she scanned her Lidl plus card


We both used the £5 off £30 discount available on our Lidl plus accounts which was available that weekend, both mine and wife's receipt show the £5 discount,


Today is the last date to pay it at reduced charge of of £45.

I am thinking of appealing, but am a bit worried as I will be attaching two receipts. (and we have claimed £5 discount on both receipts - it was available once per account)

Any suggestions will be very helpful






the PCN indicates that total time in car park was 1 hour 41 minutes

If I appeal today and it is rejected, will I have to pay the full charge of £90 then?

KeithP

What did the manager in the Lidl store have to say when you asked him for his help?

info_maniac

I did go back to the store the very next day of receiving the PCN with both the receipts, the senior manager was not in, so met an assistant manager and he didn't want to know anything about it. 

he even claimed that the staff also get parking tickets sometimes.

he said that he can't help me in this matter and I need to speak to parking eye.

Coupon-mad

If I appeal today and it is rejected, will I have to pay the full charge of £90 then?

Nope, because you won't be paying!

Simply appeal in your own words (no template needed for you!) attaching both receipts and explaining about going back in for the 'expensive treat' extra purchase of the bread maker, and saying that you will return that item to Lidl if ParkingEye fail to cancel this PCN without quibble.

Fruitcake

If the store managers won't help then complain to the UK CEO of Lidl.

There is allegedly a minimum spend amount above which ParkingEye will (should) cancel when asked by Lidl to do so, but nobody outside the two companies will actually tell customers what this hidden amount is.

In addition, I believe that the parking contract between Lidl and PE do not allow the parking operator to issue court claims, although this may now have changed. This assumes that this is a stand alone Lidl store and not one within a retail park.

If Lidl won't cancel, take back everything you purchased and ask for a refund pointing out that you can no longer afford to shop there if every visit comes with a £90 parking surcharge.

If you want to dig deeper you could ask the local council what the original permitted parking period was when planning permission was granted as PPCs often arbitrarily reduce this parking time simply to generate more income.

You could also ask the local planning department if PE have planning permission for the ANPR scameras and control boxes, and if advertising consent has been granted for their signs. Not having the latter is breach of the PoFA para 12, and is also a criminal offence.

You should also complain to your MP, especially if you find PE has breached planning regs.

info_maniac

So, should I appeal with parkingeye directly today (14 days end today)?

Or, not appeal with parkingeye today and write to LIDL CEO with details/proof?

Fruitcake

Plan A is always a complaint to the landowner and/or retail manager/CEO.

Plan B is to appeal before the appeal deadline which is 28 days for BPA members and 21 days for IPC members. No other dates are relevant.
You have about twelve days to try to get it cancelled before you need to appeal, so you have time to try Plan A.

Victims should always complain to their MP as well. It is the only way things will ever change.

Coupon-mad

info_maniac said:

So, should I appeal with parkingeye directly today (14 days end today)?

Or, not appeal with parkingeye today and write to LIDL CEO with details/proof?

Not today.  TODAY IS NOT IMPORTANT.

Please stop looking at the daft 14 days...!
This is already stated in one of the first Q&A in the NEWBIES thread.  Did you miss it?

Only in your case DON'T use the template appeal because there is no need.  I already told you what to do and what to attach and what to say.

I did not say you must do that today. Please stop panicking, thinking the scam charge is 'going up'!

info_maniac

Thank you Coupon-mad and Fruitcake, both of you are lifesavers.

I might just go and submit the online appeal today itself then.

Do you think I can re-use the content as is from my original post or should I sound more "complaining"?

Coupon-mad

You do NOT need to do anything today.

info_maniac

Understood, thanks!! No panicking at all now.

As I understand, I can submit my appeal within the 28 days. 

So, while I have all the details with me at the moment (and copies of the digital receipts), my point was that I might as well submit the appeal sooner rather than later.

Asking again - Do you think I can re-use the content as is from my original post or should I sound more "complaining"?