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  Strangely enough there seems to have been a lot about this in the news lately, papers, tv and radio.
  
  In my view yet another good example of legalised theft where the civil penalty charge ( it's not a "fine" as it's not issued by the local authority etc. ) is way disproportionate to the misdemeanour actually committed.
  I had the misfortune to get one of these a few weeks back. At the request of the Home Office I had to take my wife to a participating post office in order to get her finger prints and photo taken etc., for a biometric ID card. ( more expense and hassle but that's another story! ) The nearest post office for this function was at Ahsford which is where we set off for. Believe it or not, apart from visiting the hospital or the train station I've never really been anywhere near the town as such so not overfamiliar with the layout etc. and one worry was where to park.
  However, on getting close to where we thought we needed to be we spotted a Lidl supermarket and knowing that we wouldn't be long, more of an in and out job, we nipped in there and parked up and proceeded to the PO. On returning the heavens opened up so we had to run for it to get back to the car.
  A few days later I received the "penalty charge notice" stating that only the first ten minutes were free and as I hadn't registered my number ( presumably in the store? ) they wanted £90 off me, but only £45 (bargain!) if I paid up quick.
  Now I fully accept and understand that as a company Lidl have no duty whatsoever to provide me with free parking, but I genuinely never saw any of the so called "clearly visible signs" otherwise it would have been stupid to ignore them. I would also accept and pay say a ten or twenty quid charge for flouting their rules but £90 or even £45 is having a laugh just for being a few minutes over that allowed.
  I have no intention of paying this charge and await the usual threatening letters that these private profit making companies are so good at. I will see if they actually bother to take me to court, from what I understand most cases at that stage get dropped owing to the time and cost of a court hearing.
  We will no doubt see in the coming weeks/months!

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