A Lidl Less Conversation

Ahoy hoy!

I'll begin with this:

I successfully got Athena ANPR Ltd (acting on behalf of Lidl) to cancel a parking charge they made against me by sending silly emails and hand drawn pictures of stick men. Heck, you may even want to try it yourself. It's a lot of fun...

Please read on:

I love Lidl. I really do. I feel like I'm shopping in Spain whenever I go there. Except it's a German company, I'm in the UK, and it's pissing down with rain outside.

Anyway - a few months back, my local Lidl in Yate, near Bristol, installed cameras in it's car park and put up signs offering free parking of 90 minutes to Lidl customers and WARNINGS of parking charges of £90 being incurred if you don't shop there. I don't believe it is legally enforceable. 

To cut a long story short, what really moved me to make this complaint is that a couple of months ago I was waiting in the queue at Lidl and saw an old man of about 80 years, looking quite frightened and pleading with the Lidl manager about this letter he'd receive demanding £90 from him. The old man was insisting that he only EVER parked in the Lidl car park if he was actually shopping at the store.

I saw what was going on and intervened. I advised the old man not to pay the parking charge. Sadly, he ignored my advice and paid the fine. I was incensed that this vulnerable pensioner had been taken advantage of.

So the next time I shopped at Lidl, I parked outside the store and then lied at the checkout when they asked if I had used their car park. About a week later I received a letter from Athena ANPR Ltd acting on behalf of Lidl. 

Here is the letter:

As you can see, the letter looks very official and is clearly meant to intimidate people (like the poor old man in the store) into paying - I mean, a big reputable company like Lidl wouldn't try and extort money deceptively would they?

The following email chain is word for word genuinely what happened betwixt myself and them. 

Try it yourself - shop at Lidl, refuse to give your car details, but keep the receipt and take a photo in case you lose it - if it all goes wrong, you can still use the receipt as proof of purchase. Have fun!

__________________________________________________

This is my first email to the Appeals section at Athena ANPR Ltd:

From: Steve Crowley 
Sent: 10 April 2016 16:29
To: appeals
Subject: Parking Charge Notice Number XXXXXXXXX

Dear Sirs

I write in reference to the above Civil Parking Charge Notice.

Please note the following points:

1. I do not believe I am liable to pay this fine. Please advise on what basis you believe I am liable to pay the charge. i.e. What is the charge actually for? Is it a fine? Is it legally enforceable? Is it for Lidl’s pecuniary losses arising from the fact I was parked in their car park?

2. I believe I had shopped at Lidl on the date of the alleged incident, during the times that my vehicle is alleged to have stayed at the car park. I believe that I bought among other things, a High School Musical magazine, and some toilet roll. And for the record, it’s not what you think - my daughter likes High School Musical, hence the magazine, and all members of my family use toilet roll. Except my son. He uses his sister’s toothbrush.

I look forward to you addressing the above points and receiving confirmation that the Parking Charge has been withdrawn.

Kind regards.