Free Traffic Legal Advice

Welcome forum users

PCN was received on 6 March PCN due to overstaying in Lidl car park and was sent to registered owner
of the vehicle.

While on shopping in Lidl I received an important prebooked clinician consultation call  at 12.45 .
The appointment was quite lenghty  as I had to return to car which was still parked in Lidl car park to better hear dr questions.when telephone appointment was finished I returned back again to LIdl store to continue with shopping.
I obtained private and confidential letter from GP reg consultation call at exact time 12.45 so would like to use if its possible as evidence on medical ground and also have shopping receipt from Lidl.

Beside that on the entrance to the Lidl Store car park ,address : 373 High Street B70 9QL West Bromwich
there are  plenty of  information signs around the car park telling about free parking up to 90 min and fine up to £90 if the breach of the parking conditions.

Can you please advice re above situation as have deadline up to 17 March 2025 for potential appeal as per below letter with photos attached

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Parking Eye

Registered keeper

I don’t think you’ve posted the PCN, don’t obscure dates, just personal information.

Getting LIDL to cancel will be the best approach, Parking Eye won’t care about your mitigation, nor will POPLA. LIDL wants to keep you as a customer.

So something like 105 minutes parked in an area limited to 90 minutes. You say the signs are clear.

Parking Eye also thinks it has complied with PoFA to hold you - the registered keeper - liable in place of the driver. There are technical arguments against this but they would probably go to court and rely on a magistrate agreeing.

Email someone senior if the store won’t do it.

General advice - read https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/ - is not to identify the driver. If you care about the potentially technical arguments I suggest you edit your last post.

There can never, ever be a "magistrate" involved in a civil contractual dispute. Magistrates only ever deal with criminal matters in the magistrates court. Civil contractual matters are dealt with in the county court by a district judge. Very big difference and the two should never be confused.

That aside, as already advised, you should go with Plan A for now and get the management at the Lidl store to get this cancelled. They have contracted ParkingEye and you should complain that as a customer on the day, irrespective of your mitigation, which, to be frank, no one really cares about and certainly ParkingEye don't. You may not want to mention this to the Lidl management either as they can simply say they don't care either and therefore it is your fault for overstaying.

Don't let some underling customer service bod fob you off and tell you to simply appeal to ParkingEye. Unless you get a positive result from the management at the store, you escalate your complaint as high up the management food chain as you can go and so you email the CEO.

At the same time you can appeal to ParkingEye, without the spiel about the doctors phone call and simply say that it is unfair and you were a paying customer of Lidl and show them evidence of your receipt. Nothing else.

If they don't cancel, you will get a POPLA code where you can then make a secondary appeal but at that stage, it 50:50 whether it succeeds. There are issues with all ParkingEye Notices to Keeper (NtK) that make them non PoFA compliant and also their signage is not PPSCoP or BPA CoP compliant. All arguments to make if Lidl or ParkingEye themselves don't cancel it.

If it gets to that stage, it will most likely end up as a claim which will be easily defeated because ParkingEye will not use their in house legal team to submit a claim and they will instead use DCB Legal which is a guaranteed with a reasonable defence and they eventually discontinue.

So, Plan A... complain as high up the management food chain at Lidl and get them to call ParkingEye off. Plan B, you appeal with the following just before the appeal deadline to ParkingEye themselves but only as the Keeper, referring to the driver in the third person only:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing as the registered keeper of the vehicle regarding Parking Charge Notice [PCN Number] issued for an alleged overstay at [Lidl Car Park Location] on [Date].

The driver of the vehicle was a genuine customer of Lidl and has retained the receipt as proof of their transaction. It is unreasonable to issue a parking charge to a legitimate customer simply for taking the time necessary to complete their shopping. Lidl provides parking for its patrons, and penalising them in this manner is unfair.

Please find attached a copy of the receipt as evidence that the driver was a genuine Lidl customer on the date in question.

I request that this charge be cancelled. Should this appeal be rejected, I will escalate a formal complaint to Lidl regarding the unfair treatment of their customers.

I look forward to your confirmation of cancellation.

Yours sincerely,

[Your Name]
Registered Keeper

Poor signage, PoFA non compliance etc. can all be dealt with later if Lidl or ParkingEye don't cancel it first.

You don't use post to send anything. Either as an attachment to an email or use their webform. If using their webform, make sure you keep a copy of what you are sending them.

Hopefully you didn’t send it to Private Eye.

I already sent it with registered keeper email .

Hovewer Lidl  Customer care apologised for that incident and was going to help me but when I told them I have also made  an appeal to P.Eye  then was told they can do nothing till I get answer which should be positive.

That is not true. They can tell their agent to cancel a PCN any time up to the issue of a claim. Anyway, wait and see what ParkingEye comeback with.