This is a summary & later details are from other things I have read here. All correspondence with Lidl has been by email, excluding the first which was via their website, but I kept a copy.

My house was badly flooded when we were on holiday, a major burst that probably ran for over three weeks.

Relatives helping me used my car to take things to the dump, then drove into a Lidl I had suggested nearby to buy baking powder for cleaning & tea. (They also bought cakes, as the receipt was in the bag, but I don't know where it is now).

The car is a coupe & is quite low (as standard) & hit a speed bump making "the exhaust sound funny". They bought what they went in for then found the car could not drive as the exhaust had partly fallen off & jammed under the car. There's pictures of this that have been sent to Lidl.

They had tried to release it but couldn't then called me & I called my garage who are not far from that Lidl, but they could not go for hours so I called the breakdown company, who appeared later & released the exhaust, leaving the car drivable but without a back box.

The staff in Lidl had already given them a long cardboard tray thing to put the exhaust in so the boot would not get dirty when they had been told what had happened.

A letter arrived a week to the day later saying the car had overstayed ?90 mins? & owed £90. This was sent to me but was shoved in a brown envelope & the date put on it by my niece. About 2-3 weeks later when at the house I opened it, but left it there & its now part of many bundles or might have been binned, as even as the house was drying water/dampness would collect on the hall floor.

The letter was not from Lidl but from a parking company & "as the car was registered to me"

So I contacted Lidl telling them what had happened & sent the exhaust pictures & explained I can't find their parking company's letter & they told me to contact the parking company "with the reference number on the letter".

I wrote to them explaining they had sent a standard reply & they said they would look into it. I then contacted my breakdown company & asked them to send confirmation the car had "broken down" & they also gave me the name of the breakdown company who had attended, so I could obtain their vehicles registration that must appear on the records Lidl have for that day. I then wrote again to Lidl telling them the letter was coming from the breakdown company & the registration of the breakdown truck.

So today again an email appeared telling me...

"You will have to contact Athena ANPR directly."

But without an email address or contact details, or the reference number they have told me I need.

So I'm feeling pretty harassed along the lines of I appear to be dealing with monkeys whose speed bump has trashed my exhaust & want me to pay £90 for the privilege.

I'm in Scotland & use Lidl fairly often, having swapped from Waitrose when they became political during the Scottish independence campaign. But they've shot themselves in the foot on that one now.

Looking through things over people have been asked & answering them.

It happened mid January, & the letter arrived a week later to the day but was not opened until later. The date will be confirmed when the breakdown company's letter arrives.

No appeal has been submitted as I don't have the letter or reference number & Lidl don't seem in a hurry to give me this. I'm guessing Lidl is trying to take it beyond an "appeal by" date.

The letter did have pictures of the car going both in & out & said how long it had stayed. Other than that there is not much I can tell you.

The carpark was Lidl Govan, under a 5 min drive from the dump.

We are not staying back at the house yet & the date for moving back in is the start of March.

As you're in Scotland, ignore them and anything the send you completely and absolutely!

POFA does not apply in Scotland and therefore keeper liability does not exist.

As long as Athena do not know the identity of the driver, there is nothing that they can do. Don't be fooled by their scare tactics, you're not liable for a single penny.

you need to understand this is NOTHING to do with lidl's too.........

Others much more knowledgeable than me will be on later.

Firstly, it's Lidl who employ these crooks, not vice versa, so if you go up the company chain it's likely someone will force them to cancel.

Secondly, in Scotland the conmen can only sue the driver (in certain circumstances in England & Wales they can sue the keeper (POFA)) so never, ever, tell them who was driving.

Thirdly, I vaguely remember something about it being impossible to have a contract during a breakdown or some such ... "frustration of contract" or something ... as I say, wait for the experts tomorrow morning ... with their help you will be coughing up exactly £0.00.

Thanks for your reply.

To form a contract requires consensus (consensus in idem is the legal term) so both parties agree, although that could only be used against a driver who willingly parked there whilst aware of the conditions & not when it was unavoidable (even if aware of the conditions).

"Frustration of contract" is when a contract was formed but an unforeseen event makes it impossible for the obligations entered into to be fulfilled. There was no contract with either me or the driver here.

I know I don't owe them, I just don't want the grief of some comedians harassing me for what they are not entitled to when I'm hacked off with my house being trashed.

you need to understand this is NOTHING to do with lidl's too.........

Thanks for your reply.

Lidl were my only contact with a company I did not have a record of who I was dealing with. Although now they have told me, I don't have the reference number they say I need when contacting that company. They have also not given me contact details other than the company's name.

Is the relationship between Lidl & the parking company not one of agency?

As you're in Scotland, ignore them and anything the send you completely and absolutely!

 

POFA does not apply in Scotland and therefore keeper liability does not exist.

 

As long as Athena do not know the identity of the driver, there is nothing that they can do. Don't be fooled by their scare tactics, you're not liable for a single penny.

Thanks for your reply.

I'd never heard of POFA until looking here tonight, but your message reminded me the letter did ask me to identify the driver. This might suggest the letter did not mention POFA & was geared for Scotland.

Although in saying that it would be close to a first.

stop waffling, you will only shoot yourself in the other foot if you take these people seriously. The truth is the parking co have broken the law by obtaining your keeper detail and you wish to give them some credence.

A unilateral contract cannot be frustrated so forget that argument, what is important is a breakdown isnt an sgreement and to repeat, in Scotland there is n keeper liability so even bothering writing to Lidl has done more harm than good.

As it was private land they are not obliged to have spped bumps that dont trash your car, you are not forced to drive there.

Now read up an private parking by absorbing what is said in about the last 50 thears in this forum and then ignore Athena some more and if they presist on harassing you tell us and we will advise accordingly. At present they cant touch you and you can have them for breach of the DPA so keep quiet and let them hang themselves