Hi, I have received a Civil Parking Charge Notice from Athena ANPR Ltd for exceeding the parking time limit in a Lidl car park in Barnsley. I registered my VRN in the store to validate my stay - I did not realise there was a one hour limit. There are signs around the car park but I did not park near one of them and I did not read them. The signs were not big enough to be read from a distance. How do I proceed with this?

My husband has received a Civil Parking Charge Notice, it's dated 20th November but we received it today!! He was parked for 1:45:12, so 15 minutes and 12 seconds more than allowed. My issue is that we have recently bought an electric car and are lucky that in our local Lidl there is a charging point for 2 cars. Unfortunately there aren't any signs as to what it is and any time I go in I have to wait to park. I have had 2 people kindly telling me there are other spaces, when I point out that I can only use 2 they say 'oh, I wondered what that was'. My husband was parked for less than 90 minutes but in the car park for more. Can we appeal?

Hi Guys, Date of Infringement : 21/08/2018 Issue Date : 23/08/2018 Date Received : 25/08/2018 Mentions Schedule 4 Protections of Freedoms Act 2012 : No Photographic Evidence : Yes, entering and leaving Have you appealed : Not yet, rang Lidl Parking Company : Athena ANPR Where : Lidl dedicated Carpark, 21 London Road, Blackwater, Surrey, GU17 9AF Operating Under : International Parking Community's Accredited Operator Scheme Permitted Stay : 1:30 Apparent Stay : 1:42:10 Hi guys, Received a named letter today. Pretty disgusted. Apparently the car was parked there for 12 minutes longer than permitted. We are regular Lidl customers and have a bank statement showing money spent during the 'offense'. Rang customer service, who weren't interested at all in helping. The letter came today, pretty upset by it, especially as money is tight at the moment. Spent time looking through newbie threads here and elsewhere, Would like to email the CEO as I see others have done this, couldn't find it though. Still unsure as to how exactly I should proceed. Any advice is really appreciated.

Lidl - Athena Civil parking charge notice received. I admit I'm probably very late dealing with this but just had a lot on. I did shop in Lidl that day, its a new shop and it was the first time I had been in there since it opened. I have attached the parking charge notice and photos of where I'm supposed to enter my reg number. The picture coming down the escalator to the car park there is one small sign and screen. No sign at all on the doors leading from the car park into the shop, perhaps to tell you that you have to enter any reg numbers into a machine. The picture by the tills (with two people blocking the screens) is where you can enter your reg number but you can see with people there you can hardly notice it and there is no sign on the wall above them to see either. I was only there for 36 minutes in total! I paid in cash and cannot find my receipt. any advise please Athena CPCN.pdf

Hi all, Received an NTK about a civil parking charge notice from Athena in the post today, I've done some reading on the forum so haven't contacted them and will not disclose who the driver is. Car was parked at LIDL for 50 mins but the driver did not register at the terminal for the 1.5 hrs free parking. The driver did a full shop with debit card (we have receipt as well). LIDL address is: LIDL Walthamstow 43-49 High Street, Walthamstow, London, E17 7LD (google says 7AD but notice and other sites say 7LD) What's the best course of action? Letter to LIDL CEO department? Anything else I should do also and any tips on the letter? (e.g. should I attach a photo of the receipt?) For tickets received through the post (Notice to Keeper) please answer the following questions. 1 Date of the infringement [/color]21/11/17 2 Date on the NTK 24/11/17 3 Date received 27/11/17 4 Does the NTK mention schedule 4 of The Protections of Freedoms Act 2012?No 5 Is there any photographic evidence of the event? Yes, a picture of the car leaving and entering with date and times, license plate is clearly visible but driver is not 6 Have you appealed? No Have you had a response? N/A 7 Who is the parking company? Athena ANPR For either option, does it say which appeals body they operate under. There are two official bodies, the BPA and the IAS. If you are unsure, please check here IAS Will upload pics of sign shorty but doesn't say anything out of the ordinary really apart from register at terminal for 1.5 hrs free parking, 90 mins max stay, you will be charged if you breach any of the other terms of parking. Thanks in advance Thanks convert-jpg-to-pdf.net_2017-11-27_14-56-44.pdf convert-jpg-to-pdf.net_2017-11-27_14-57-11.pdf DEFAULT CHARGE 27-11-17.pdf

Hi I've just received a overdue reminder from them for the same thing now demanding payment within 7 days of there reminder letter I've just been ignoring them not quite sure what to write back as also it's been way over 28 days for appeal can anyone help?

Hello, I have recently come across this thread and at my wits end. I'm someone that has always paid whatever fine possible and tried to stay away from these wicked exploitation which brings me to my recent dilemma. I received a 'civil parking charge notice' by the above mentioned body of Athena APNR Ltd. It details the Incident date : 5/3/16 Issue date: 9/3/16 Parking charge: £90 With no mention of a law under any section by the way. The problem is the time I have used the parking space. I parked there due to the fact that the store was closed which was at 2:47 am. My question is that is this valid as the space wasn't in use or in breach of any laws. Is this enforcement valid at these times? Pls help!!!

Hello everyone, I received the above notice through my friend over the weekend demanding £90 subject to a discount of £45 if paid within 14 days. The incident took place on Saturday 05/03/16 at the LIDL car park in Waltham Cross, I was driving my friend’s car at the time so the notice was sent to him as the registered owner of the car. The issue date of the notice is 09/03/16. I apparently stayed for 22 minutes at the car park while the allowed time according to the notice is 10 minutes. I have since gone back to check and the allowed free time at the car park for customers is 90 minutes!!! (Picture attached). The only problem now is that I did buy an item at the store but it was cash and I did not keep the receipt, I remember washing the car immediately after, got rid of the receipt for the stuff I bought while cleaning out the car at the car wash before returning the car to him. What steps can I take? I do not want them harassing my friend who allowed me to use his car. Should I ask him to fill the form to give them my identity? Can I add my appeal against the ticket to the form immediately as well before sending it to them? I want to believe this is wrong as there was nothing at the car park that suggests you are only allowed to park for 10 minutes. When I went back to take pictures at the car park I met someone else with a similar issue. The store manager says they can’t do anything about it. Please let me know the way forward. I have seen a few posts about similar issues here but me not having a receipt from the store makes me wonder if I will have any problem.

Hi, I'm a regular Lidl customer and can prove it from receipts. On 25/07/14 I parked in Lidl as my wife had a hospital appt (a 20week pregnancy scan) and the hospital parking/on street parking nearby is a nightmare. I intended to return within the 90mins allowed to shop in Lidl (I did shop in Lidl afterwards but it was after I left the car-park (exited car-park 13:31, time on receipt 15:07)). We ran a bit late (as the baby was not in correct position!) and I didn't want to miss the scan by running back to Lidl so we were 17mins 52 seconds over the allowed 90mins. I now have a Civil Parking Charge Notice from Athena for £90 reduced to £45 if I pay within 14 days. This seems a bit excessive to say the least. I don't have any real defence as I broke their rules, do I have any way of not paying this charge? Is it legally enforceable? Can I offer to pay a smaller, more reasonable charge for 18minutes? Many thanks for any help!

Hi there I would like to ask for advice re unfair parking charges at Lidl / Athena car park in Eltham SE9 Thanks Ross

My girlfriend(RK) received a NTK(attached) from Athena ANPR Ltd for 'Exceeded Free Parking Duration' at Lidl. The limit was 90 minutes but we exceeded by 12 minutes. Incident Date is 08/09, NTK issue Date is 10/09 and it hit the doormat on the 12th September. I was driving that day. As many times in the past, we waited for our daughter to finish her guitar lessons nearby, after we done some shopping at Lidl. My girlfriend(RK) paid for the shopping with her Credit card. She doesn't have the Lidl receipt but the transaction shows up on her credit card statement. Is it worth appealing? Please advise.

Hello there, I know this will have been asked time and time again, but I just wanted to get the latest on where we stand with our friends Athena ANPR Ltd. Basically I got a ticket while parking in Lidl last week for longer than ten minutes as I thought it was still under the 90 minute ruling. I don't have the money to pay this - hence I paid somewhere I thought was free... It seems the advice to ignore it has now changed, so what is the best course of action? This particular Lidl seems to require you to give your number plate in at the till, however no receipt is issued after. I would happily ignore it however it is still under my mum's address and she will worry about people knocking at her door. Also, one more thing, if I was not driving, do I have to name the other driver by law? Thanks everybody, Oasis Joe.

I'm hoping this will be straightforward - I see there are many similar posts in this forum. I received a Civil Parking Charge Notice 'Notice to Keeper' from Athena ANPR Ltd for 'Exceeded Free Parking Duration' at Lidl. The limit was 90 minutes and this was exceeded by 25 minutes. The Incident Date was 22/11, NTK issue Date is 25/11 and I received it 27/11. The car had been parked in Lidl whilst I did some shopping for a friend I was helping to move into a flat nearby. I entered the car park at 13:26, have a till receipt for 14:04 (28 mins later), took the shopping to my friend & helped her move some boxes/furniture around, returned to Lidl and picked up a few extra things (no receipt but it's on my Visa statement), then exited the car park at 15:22. This was the first time I'd shopped at Lidl (and probably my last), so was entirely unaware that they operate this system. I expect there are signs announcing the charge/penalty, but I certainly didn't see any (I've asked my friend to take some photos). I intend to appeal to Athena. Will the following suffice (suggested by Armadillo71 & successfully used for a similar case): 'As registered keeper of vehicle registration xxx xxx I am not liable for this charge. Enclosed is a copy of my till receipt and credit card statement for the date in question. I was not the driver on the date of the event. Please cancel this charge forthwith, or alternatively issue a valid code for the independent appeals service POPLAicon.' Further advice was to obtain free proof of postage from the PO (or retain copy of appeal via email) + never divulge the driver's identity re ANPR capture 'unless advised to by someone with the understanding of how the murky PPC world operates'.

Hi TaurusLeo & Amradillo71 re: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?452149-Civil-Parking-Charge-Notice-by-Athena-ANPR-Ltd-for-Parking-in-Lidl&p=4823265#post4823265 I just received the exact same letter for parking in Lidl from Athena ANPR Ltd, I was 13 minutes over the 90 minute 'allowed duration of stay'. I have a receipt for purchases in store. I just wondered which template you sent to them as an appeal? There is so much information out there about how to go about it, but your letter obviously worked! Many Thanks

My partner went to lidl and was there for only 38 minutes has received a penalty for not registering her car with lidl, she is from Poland and has a limited amount of English understanding, as she could not read the signs properly she went by the photos which she understood to be no1, park your car, no2, do shopping, no3, push button but she could not find a button to push so she drove out because she was within the specified time of 90 minutes, when I looked at the parking sign the button she referred to was a picture of a finger & what looked like a button but said underneath register vehicle, I can fully understand her confusion am wondering if anyone could please help us as she is panicking about paying the fine before the 14 day discount expires. Many thanks.

Hi everyone, My first post. I have read through many of the sucess and ongoing stories in relation to these shenanigans, and must say you guys are quite amazing giving up our own time to help others. I am almost sure now how to proceed with this, but I wanted to be sure. I recieved my 1st letter today 05/09/15. The contravention was on 29/08/15. The charge was issued on 03/09/15. They have changed the parking restrictions to 10 mins unless you have your car reg validated by Lidl staff. I was totally unware of this until today and no staff told me about it. I have no store reciepts. £90 or £45 if paid within 14 days. I am going to appeal straight away and request the POPLA number under the basis of unfair charges and the fact they have no contract with the land owner. Is there a template letter I can use? With all the technical jargon and lawful speak? Please let me know if this is the correct approach. Many thanks in advance.

Hello to everyone reading this which is also my first post, Earlier today i received a "CIVIL PARKING CHARGE NOTICE" from parking in a Barnsley LIDL car park a few days ago. The charge is £90 at a discount of £45 if paid within 14 days. I was 31 minutes and 58 seconds over the 10 minutes free parking. The situation - In all honesty i wasn't even aware the parking was only for 10 minutes free as i could barely read the sign from where i was stood but i'll go back and check tomorrow so lets disregard this for now. I parked up, popped down the road for maybe 5-10 minutes with the intention of doing my shopping when i arrived but i had a message and my situation changed. Hopped in my car to start it up and being an old car - austin mini on a manual choke, the choke knob came off and it took me the considerable amount of time to get it back on so i could start the car. Now, i've read several bits of advice here from various letters with a defense to straight up ignoring it but none for quite the 30 minutes over time. To make it clear i've not made any contact with them yet and don't plan to until i know where i stand. Many thanks EDIT - Just to clarify, the letter has the camera pictures where the license plate is visible etc.

This is a copy of the email I've sent to Lidl. Looking on line there are many others who are very unhappy. I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the way I have been treated by Lidl regarding a parking fine I received by post on 29/08/15. The CIVIL PARKING CHARGE NOTICE arrived just when I had returned from my weekly shop at your Streatham branch on 29/08/15. After paying I was asked for my car registration and given an explanation as to why this was needed, previously I had been asked but no explanation as to why my registration was required had been given, so I refused. I contacted your customer services department ref ....... and have been asked to provide evidence of my shop, which I will do. You should be aware this has caused me great inconvenience as my last credit card statement from Nat West was up to 13/08/15. It will be another month before my next statement arrives and I have had to register for an on line statement and this will take between 7-10 working days according to Nat West. I didn't keep the receipt from Lidl My stay was just over an hour and it would have been a lot quicker if the store was easier to get around and there had not been such a large queue at the checkout. I notice in your Clapham store there are quick service tills, providing a far better customer experience, no such luxury for Streatham. Still what should I expect as you’ve only just started accepting credit cards in all stores! Being a loyal customer for over 10 years, spending on average over £100 per week I feel aggrieved that I have to provide proof, especially when your staff did not communicate the reason for this requirement until 29/08/15. Surely an organistion of this size would be able to access customer records and see that I am telling the truth, apologise and move on. My research shows that there are many articles across the UK complaining about unfair treatment with parking fines and this is an own goal, upsetting loyal customers and pushing them to your competitors who are facing similar issues with parking and find far fairer ways of dealing with customers. As Tesco’s found you can treat people as you want on the way up, but it’s different on the way down. Yours sincerely Francis Mercer

In September 2014 I received a parking penalty reminder, from Parking eye, 5 weeks after a car of which I am the registered keeper, and with 4 named drivers, allegedly overstayed in Rheidol carpark, Aberystwyth by 15 minutes. This was the first communication received from the company. I responded to that communication and heard nothing more until June 2015 which was court proceedings intention. Again I responded to that letter. Today I received a county court claim pack of 47 pages, which includes copies of documentation they apparently sent to me, but which I have not received. The paperwork includes lots of examples of previous court cases where prosecution was successful as part of their defence. The paperwork does not include any dates for court proceedings or anything else. I'm not sure who was driving, but I do have evidence of having shopped in Lidl that day. the driver is largely irrelevant as the RK now appears to be held responsible if no driver is identified. Life at the time of the alleged incident was very chaotic, my mother was very ill and died during that period, and since then my own relationship has broken down and this court pack is the last straw, I'm not sure what to do next.. please advise. Also no POPLA code was ever received from Parking eye following my appeal to the PCN.

I have used your site for many years on different matters; always using your letter templates and always achieving a successful outcome, so thank you to the excellent advice you give. However, I currently have a situation with Athena ANPR and would be grateful for any help or advice any of your members could offer. On 7th May, this year, I received a Civil Parking Charge Notice, due to my vehicle overstaying the allowable free parking time in a Lidl Supermarket Car Park in Liverpool, on 1st May. The reasons behind the overstay are really irrelevant, but needless to say, the sign said 90 minutes free and then a penalty of £90 for any overstay after that (the time that the vehicle was parked was just under 3 hours). I sent an appeal letter on 9th May (template off this site) advising that “Being the registered keeper I was not liable for this charge”. Also I stated at the foot of the letter, “This appeal has been sent with proof of postage”. As a consequence of this I received their standard “Refusing to Cancel” letter, dated 21st May, which also included their advice to appeal to POPLA if I was not happy with their decision. At the bottom right hand corner off their letter they included an Appeal Verification Code, to be included in my letter to POPLA. On 29th May, I uploaded onto the POPLA website, my appeal giving 4 reasons (again, a template I used from this site) copy of letter attached. I then received from POPLA, a 22 page Email being the evidence that Athena ANPR had sent to POPLA. This included photos of the signage, a plan of the car park indicating where the 15 signs are around the car park (to be honest, my glasses would have needed glasses to read the small print on the signs) and copies of my correspondence. The date on the covering letter from Athena to POPLA is obscured but I received it from POPLA on 30 June. I responded to their evidence to POPLA (copy attached) on 4th July to which I received a letter dated 13th July from POPLA advising me that my response was more than the allowable 28 days (copy attached). I ‘m assuming that Athena are now sending in their evidence so close to the 28 day cut off making it difficult to respond to it within the said time limit. I assume that Athena will send me a letter now threatening bailiffs. Am I right in my assumption that a bailiff can only act on the instruction of a Court Order? It may be worth reiterating that throughout my correspondence with POPLA and Athena I’ve never said who the driver was, nor will I unless instructed to do so in a Court. So, where do I go from here or do I just wait? Any help would be appreciated, many thanks. Regards Euan I'll upload the POPLA Letter as a Tiff file. Hope that's better.

I am expecting a civil PCN to land any day now after being told it had been received by my employer (I drive a company car). I have read quite a lot of previous posts but seem to see half saying ignore the PCN, and another half saying don't ignore it, appeal it. As a lot of these previous posts go back months/years, I dont know if the best way of handling them has changed so am hoping for a more up to date suggestion of a response. I pulled into a car park (Lidl) while on a hands free phone call, knowing it was going to go on for ages so thought it best to just stop and pick it up. 25 minutes later, I finish the call and leave the car park. Must admit, I was completely oblivious to the fact it wasn't a free car park. I worked on the assumption that if a car park attendant needed me to move, I am sitting in the car so can do so. There were loads of free spaces so I wasn't taking up a valuable space. I have since been back and there are signs dotted around to say max of 60 mins for Lidl (and another store) customers but they cant be that obvious as I didn't notice them when I went in (see attached). So my questions are: 1. Should I ignore any correspondence I get? 2. Do I have an explanation good enough to make a legitimate appeal? 3. Should I just pay the fine and forget about it (even though I think its disgusting). Thanks in advance for any help.

I recived a Civil Parking Change Notice from Athnea ANPR showing photos of my car entering and departing Lidl Crowthonre on the 03/06/2015. The Charge is £60.00 with a discount for paying early of £25 The Issue Date was 05/06/15 Photo shows my car entering at 09:22 on the 03/06/15 Next Photo shows my car exiting at 11:37 on the same day. This would have exceed the posted 2 hour "Free" parking period by 15 minutes, total time in car park 02:15:14 What should i do?

Can anyone give me advice about payment notice from Athena,Lidl carpark. I parked in their carpark on Wednesday and stay longer than I should have:| My husband received a notice for payment of £50 if paid in 14 days or £100 if not:-x What do I do:?:

hi I received a civil parking charge from Athena ANPR ltd my husband over stayed a 1 hr free parking by25 mins due to lack of staff manning the tills in our local LIDLs the incident occurred 10/04/14 and I received the notice 18/04/14 I wrote to appeal stating notice number registration number reason why I took so long in the shop named above stated I cannot justify your profit of loss of £90.00 £45.00 if paid within 14 days asked for POPLA number and signed the letter registered keeper today I received a letter asking me to verify the appeal was sent by me as it was addressed to Miss B king please help as £90 or £45 is more than what I would spend in LIDL as this is a free car park which is very busy and can take up to 20 mins to find a space the queue goes out on the main road and staffing in store is very poor

My wife recently received a PCN invoice from this company, after over-staying in a Lidl car park beyond the permitted 90 minutes. I have written and posted an appeal letter to Athena on her behalf, which I posted one week ago. Unfortunately, I do not have proof of posting. Should I follow this up with an email to them or just wait for a response. My concern is they may claim they never received the appeal. I appreciate your advice. Boofie.