Cycling UK Forum

Just wondering if this sort of thing is a common occurrence. I’m in the position now of using the wretched bikes to cycle from the station to my place of work but until I can resolve this am unwilling to make the return journey if there is a risk of being surcharged every time and there is a small fleet of Limes starting to collect in the car park which appears to bother Lime not a jot - it is accessible by the public so it is not depriving anyone of a hire bike should they want it. Trading standards may be my best option as although it is only two quid charged directly to my account it strikes me as a bit of a liberty especially as they are not able to give a consistent excuse for it!

Thanks for the replies all.

I’ve been busy!

Good evening.
I am wondering if anyone has had any experience of Lime hire bikes charging parking penalty fees?
In recent months I have started to use Lime e-bikes when available as an occasional short cut to Brentford (south west London) rail station when I am running late at work and have to catch a train to get home. Initially I experienced no problems and left the bike in the designated cycle parking area outside the station where often several other Limes had also been left.
Last week I received a message from Lime saying that I had been charged a penalty for improper parking, it was only £2 but why had I suddenly been fined after several months of no issues? It is the only time this issue has arisen.
I have contacted Lime who have been next to useless, they cannot seem to agree why the charge was raised and all I get are the same regurgitated messages suggesting that:
- I was charged because I did not complete the ride correctly as I left the bike in a designated no parking zone (it should not be possible to do this as the bike will refuse to lock until it is taken outside the zone) which is untrue as I locked the bike and have a receipt. There is a no parking zone in the other side of the A4 but that is several hundred metres away.
- It was parked blocking a pavement which is also untrue as it was within the cycle parking area as shown in the required photo taken at the finish of the ride showing mine and one other Lime bike.
- Despite not being in a designated no parking zone “city authorities” may apply further restrictions on parking but there is no indication that Lime bikes are not welcome here. The Lime Ts and Cs contain a link to information about cities which have additional parking restrictions but on trying to open the page I just get an error message from three different devices and two different browsers. I asked which authorities and which bye-laws applied here but was sent a stock message giving absolutely no information.
I am not convinced I am actually dealing with a human being at Lime and am suspecting that it could be a chat bot.
I know it is only £2 but my issue is that if there are these difficult to find regulations hidden away then it is a pretty sharky practice and I am less inclined to use what was a convenient service.