Last Saturday on opening the mail, there was an offical looking document titled " Civil Parking Charge Notice" with lots of type in Red.
Carole had just returned from Lidl and was horrified as she is the only person in the household who can drive at present.
The document had dates of a week earlier and photos of the vehicle and number plates entering and leaving Lidl carpark in Eastleigh with a demand for £90 for staying 14.55 mins over time.
We of course were both shocked, angry (Carole with herself) and very annoyed at the exorbitant rate. She then said I might have done it again as thats where I have just been, last minutes stocking up for me while she is away skiing.
Our daughter arrived and we discussed it until she said ignore it, they are a usual try on for money, the company is Athena ANPR Parking of Chertsey and Google them.
I did and there is a lot, but basically the advice is, it's not legal, who was driving, but they will hound and bombard us by mail with court papers and bailiffs notices to make us feel guilty, we just have to remain steadfast, ignore and do not respond in any way. That will be easy for an old thickskin like me but Carole is more fragrant in many ways and it will be difficult to ignore her worried comments, the next time a demand turns up.
Anybody had this or heard of it?

Do you have Lidl receipts for you purchases for that day/time ? Could be a useful 'tool' to prove you're a bone-fide Lidle customer should push come to shove !

Otherwise I'd ignore it. Good luck :)

I had a similar situation in Barnstaple, we had parked in the area for a well known motoring store ( Halfrauds) I spent a few pounds in there and left no more than 20 minutes, on my windscreen was the usual sticky enclosing a parking ticket. The "ticket" was written on paper with a blue chequer border (leading you to believe at first glance it was from Plod) I wrote to them in a very forthright manner!!!! and told them to take me to court as I was quite happy to attend (it would cost them more than I would get fined, pay costs etc). I never did a reply, but I had satisfaction in knowing I had called there bluff!

Why WE ever allowed our details (held by DVLA) to be given out to a private company is beyond me, but it is legal, whoever passed this needs to rescind it immediately!!!

Best of luck Derek

good grief, what a shock,
is the letter real??
perhaps its a scam
ring 101 to ask

have you tried internet shopping, may be cheaper?

We have receipts and she is regular there but we are not doing anything and thanks all

Have a look at this Derek http://www.challengethefine.com/

Andy

Thanks mate and done it.

Derek

A friend and I parked in the Lowry Centre Pay Car Park on our way to a game at Old Trafford only to return and find we had not parked in a correct space, cough up £60 or £100 after 2 weeks. Clearly unsustainable as there was no loss.

However, Glyn being an argumentative cove, started looking into the parking mafia and their ways via moneysavingexpert.com.

He came across parkingticketappeals.org.uk who have ceased trading but their website has some useful letters and guidance to use.

Good luck.

UPDATE: Glyn is now using privateparkingappeals.co.uk/ to manage his appeal for him. £5 for the first level and £10 for the next.

Charlie

Thanks mate, I saw a website on it too, can't remember which one but similar.

Oh dear, Carole is that sort of person who just cannot get out of her mind the stupid parking charge and the possible (not yet receved) threats.

So she has pleaded with me to write a grovel and post a cheque, at least I insisted that it would only be 50% and we have been out of the country. She has!

We got a letter asking for the LIDL receipts that day and subesquent, which we did and today got the Charge cancelled.

Sp there you go.

Carole is keeping an eye online the bank to see if a refund arrives.

Mid Beds County Council is using a car with a roof mounted camera to 'catch' motorists stopped on yellow lines. If you get caught out anywhere, look for a place where the lines are obliterated/incomplete, This makes them unenforcable in law. Take a photo and write to the relevant authority asking that the ticket be cancelled , quoting :- (Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (Road Markings) 2002. Schedule 6, 1017-1018.1 item 4 page 172). The regs describe how yellow lines MUST be laid out. If it doesn't comply, it's not enforcable. (Case law exists).
Until a short while ago, most of the yellow lines in the town failed to comply for various reasons, eg: no end bars, gaps where the road had been repaired etc. Unfortunately the council seems to have got wise to this and the painting teams have been out recently.

We don't have this problem in Scotland as the ransom demands from such private parking companies is not legally enforceable.
I've had quite a few over the years and simply ignore and there is nothing the companies can do about it.
Same thing with wheel clamping by private parking companies which is also illegal in Scotland.

Great to live in "Gods Country".
David

Randa

Only talking about private car parks.
Agree that local authority parking is a real joke.
I actually went to school in North Berwick.

David