Civil parking charge notice - ignore, dispute or pay?
Discussion
Dad got a "civil parking charge notice" posted to his home by Athena ANPR Ltd. a few days after he used a car park that belonged to a London Lidl store. He went shopping in Lidl and has kept the receipt from the day, but not being a Londoner didn't realise he had to validate his parking in store using the receipt. Silly mistake from him, but the parking charge still seems like an opportunistic rip off.
Given this is one of those civil payment requests effectively, should he ignore it (is that still the done thing with these?), contact Lidl and ask them to intervene (given he has a receipt as proof of shopping), or pay out to the parking vultures and chalk it up to experience?
Given this is one of those civil payment requests effectively, should he ignore it (is that still the done thing with these?), contact Lidl and ask them to intervene (given he has a receipt as proof of shopping), or pay out to the parking vultures and chalk it up to experience?
They can take the driver to court now if they ignore it.
Generally approach Lidl in the first instance and they may cancel it, I've had a couple cancelled by Morrisons when contacting the store manager about it.
Should that fail it, then appeal it to the firm first (this will almost certainly be rejected) and then to POPLA which is the appeal process.
Generally the store manager approach works if you actually have the receipt or contact the head office of the store involved.
N.B if you contact the parking firm in any way, don't admit or acknowledge anything beyond the facts; i.e. write in the third person, "the driver", "the alleged contravention" etc. rather than "I did / they did" etc.
Generally approach Lidl in the first instance and they may cancel it, I've had a couple cancelled by Morrisons when contacting the store manager about it.
Should that fail it, then appeal it to the firm first (this will almost certainly be rejected) and then to POPLA which is the appeal process.
Generally the store manager approach works if you actually have the receipt or contact the head office of the store involved.
N.B if you contact the parking firm in any way, don't admit or acknowledge anything beyond the facts; i.e. write in the third person, "the driver", "the alleged contravention" etc. rather than "I did / they did" etc.
Edited by WattsieST170 on Friday 1st December 19:31
Thanks for confirming. I'll try and find out who the store manager is and send them an email with a scan of the receipt.I helped my mum with a similar situation. I can’t recall it if was Aldi or Lidl but they had an agent at their head office specifically dealing with this stuff. I read her the receipt number over the phone and the charge was instantly cancelled.
Try this before spending time on here or Pepipoo etc.
Try this before spending time on here or Pepipoo etc.
bad company said:
I helped my mum with a similar situation. I can’t recall it if was Aldi or Lidl but they had an agent at their head office specifically dealing with this stuff. I read her the receipt number over the phone and the charge was instantly cancelled.
Try this before spending time on here or Pepipoo etc.
This ^^^^. My daughter received a PCN last year after stopping off at a Lidl store in Southampton. She was unaware that she needed to enter the car reg to validate the parking as her local Lidl does not have any parking regulation. She found a direct email address at Lidl, scanned her receipt and received confirmation of cancellation by return.Try this before spending time on here or Pepipoo etc.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff