Free Traffic Legal Advice

As a starting point, I would recommend speaking to the management of Lidl to see if they will intervene. The fact the driver was a customer works in your favour. The fact they also used the car park to visit other premises, less so. But well worth a go.

You haven't received a "fine" so please stop calling it one. If you can find the word "fine" anywhere in the Notice to Keeper (NtK) you received, I will give you £100 for each occurrence.

As for the "mugs discount" that you appear to be worrying about, that is only for them to try and get some money out of you for little to no effort on their behalf. You either believe that you've been invoiced unfairly and you intend to fight it all the way or you agree that the driver knowingly breach the contractual terms of the car park and owes PE the amount they are saying you owe them.

Ask yourself, did the driver knowingly park in breach of the terms on the signs or did they not notice the signs? If they didn't notice the signs, was that because they were not obvious? If they weren't obvious, is that the drivers fault or the fault of PE?

You need to get it into your head that this is nothing to with a "fine". It is all about a contract that the driver allegedly breached by parking at the location. The contract is entered into by "conduct", whether they read the signs that form the contract or they don't. What matters is whether the signs were capable of forming a contract I the first place.

So, you have received a speculative invoice from PE alleging that the driver breach the contractual terms of parking at the location. You either agree that they did and pay up or you don't agree and you fight it. Your choice.

You can't get a POPLA code until the appeal is rejected. It's pity no receipt was kept and payment was by cash as, in many cases, PE will cancel if you can evidence being a paying customer.

If you are going to try nd get Lidl to cancel it, then go as high up the management food chain. Don't go in and try a lowly customer service person to know how to deal with it. As this is a Lidl only customer car park, they will be able to ask PE to cancel it.

Whatever you do, do not mention that the car was left there whilst the driver went off to do something else. Think of an excuse why it would be parked there for so long. Is there a cafe at this Lidl?

Whilst the location on the NtK simple states Lidl Cathays, it is not really ambiguous as simply entering that in Google maps, comes up with the location. It only works where there is ambiguity such as a town with more than one Lidl store.

Once an appeal is made, they normally freeze the mugs discount and when they reject, they normally give you another 14 days to pay it.