Parking ticket chased 3 years later

jimmy156

Good evening all,

I was pointed here from another forum that I am a regular user of, thanks in advance for any help - I will try to keep this brief.

In 2022 we were on Holiday in Cornwall. We got a couple of parking tickets from ANPR controlled car parks. Successfully appealed one, unsuccessfully appealed the other and then paid the fine.

Fast forward to December 2025 and we get a letter from a debt collection company about a third parking infringement. It is in the same car park (a few days later) as the one we paid the fine for. This was genuinely the first we had ever heard about it, we never received the original parking charge notice from the enforcement company.

The debt collection company provided us with the following

- Original letter from the parking company and proof of posting. This shows that we overstayed the end of our paid parking time by 10 mins (we were paid until 17:35 and we left at 17:45)
- Photographs of us entering and leaving that shows the registered keeper in the passenger seat, the driver is obscured by the rear view mirror.

Debt collection company have been predictably unhelpful with any communication.

A few weeks later we were then contacted by a solicitor company acting on behalf of the parking company with a letter titles "action before claim"

We have since written (emailed) to both the parking company and the solicitors to state the above and explain that had we received the original letter we would have either paid or more likely appealed the fine, based on the 10 minute guideline for grace period. We were never able to do this because we never received the letter. This one one of our first holidays with out then 5 year old, and my wife was heavily pregnant - hence us taking a bit longer to get back to car parks and get the car loaded then we initially anticipated.

Sorry - didn't manage to keep it that brief! So my questions:

I assume the next step is court, so...

1. Is the parking company/ solicitors (Alliance/Moorside) likely to actually take us to court?

2. If they do, is the fact the original letter never arrived and that we were within the 10 minute grace period / the driver is not identifiable going to be sufficient mitigation. We can prove that we paid / appealed the other fines in the same period, if this helps evidence that we genuinely didn't receive the original letter.

3. If we do go to court and lose, by how much is the fine / charge likely to increase?

I have no qualms paying a parking fine if i've broken the rules. I take issue with being chased for a fine inflated by 200% when we were never notified about the original fine 3+ years ago!

jimmy156

Apologies - I can't see a way to edit my original post. The letter from the solicitor was titled "Letter before Claim"

prowla

I'll get in first and say this is not a fine.

QrizB

Don't pay them a penny.

Read the NEWBIES thread that's a sticky post at the top of this forum.

jimmy156 said:

I assume the next step is court, so...
1. Is the parking company/ solicitors (Alliance/Moorside) likely to actually take us to court?

Yes, if they've sent you a Letter Before Action then their next step is a court claim.

jimmy156 said:

2. If they do, is the fact the original letter never arrived and that we were within the 10 minute grace period / the driver is not identifiable going to be sufficient mitigation. We can prove that we paid / appealed the other fines in the same period, if this helps evidence that we genuinely didn't receive the original letter.

The forum has a number of template defences. One of them is likely to fit your circumstances.

jimmy156 said:

3. If we do go to court and lose, by how much is the fine / charge likely to increase?

Follow the guidance and you won't lose.

If something goes wrong and you do lose, you might still pay less than they're currently asking for.

jimmy156 said:

I have no qualms paying a parking fine if i've broken the rules.

It's not a fine, it's a speculative invoice from terrible people who want to scare you into paying.

fatbelly

They have six years from the incident (cause of action) to start a court claim.

So yes you might get one. If you do then you just follow guidance from this boarc

user1977

QrizB said:

Read the NEWBIES thread that's a sticky post at the top of this forum.

This forum meaning not this one but the Parking Tickets one: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/parking-tickets-fines-parking

jimmy156

Thanks for the replies all.

I've skimmed through the information on the sticky... our LBC made no reference to a deadline / 30 days. It just asked us to pay. Communication with them via their online portal has resulted in them telling us we have 7 days.

The complicating issue is that it's my wife's car / she's the registered keeper. She is 100% not prepared to go to court over this. Showing her the rather long and complicated information on the sticky thread would probably just persuade her to pay it!

Brie

when you get to the point of a court claim don't forget to include discrimination as your wife being pregnant they needed to add extra time for her and to not do so discriminates against her as a woman .

fatbelly

The registered keeper not being the driver is the core of your defence, should it get to that stage

DO NOT IDENTIFY THE DRIVER

It already appears that the LBA is non-compliant.

Did they just refer you to a website where you could find the compliant text and the reply form?

paul_c123

jimmy156 said:

Good evening all,

I was pointed here from another forum that I am a regular user of, thanks in advance for any help - I will try to keep this brief.

In 2022 we were on Holiday in Cornwall. We got a couple of parking tickets from ANPR controlled car parks. Successfully appealed one, unsuccessfully appealed the other and then paid the fine.

Fast forward to December 2025 and we get a letter from a debt collection company about a third parking infringement. It is in the same car park (a few days later) as the one we paid the fine for. This was genuinely the first we had ever heard about it, we never received the original parking charge notice from the enforcement company.

The debt collection company provided us with the following

- Original letter from the parking company and proof of posting. This shows that we overstayed the end of our paid parking time by 10 mins (we were paid until 17:35 and we left at 17:45)
- Photographs of us entering and leaving that shows the registered keeper in the passenger seat, the driver is obscured by the rear view mirror.

Debt collection company have been predictably unhelpful with any communication.

A few weeks later we were then contacted by a solicitor company acting on behalf of the parking company with a letter titles "action before claim"

We have since written (emailed) to both the parking company and the solicitors to state the above and explain that had we received the original letter we would have either paid or more likely appealed the fine, based on the 10 minute guideline for grace period. We were never able to do this because we never received the letter. This one one of our first holidays with out then 5 year old, and my wife was heavily pregnant - hence us taking a bit longer to get back to car parks and get the car loaded then we initially anticipated.

Sorry - didn't manage to keep it that brief! So my questions:

I assume the next step is court, so...

1. Is the parking company/ solicitors (Alliance/Moorside) likely to actually take us to court?

2. If they do, is the fact the original letter never arrived and that we were within the 10 minute grace period / the driver is not identifiable going to be sufficient mitigation. We can prove that we paid / appealed the other fines in the same period, if this helps evidence that we genuinely didn't receive the original letter.

3. If we do go to court and lose, by how much is the fine / charge likely to increase?

I have no qualms paying a parking fine if i've broken the rules. I take issue with being chased for a fine inflated by 200% when we were never notified about the original fine 3+ years ago!

You missed out some important info - is the car park a member of the British Parking Association (BPA) or the International Parking Community (IPC)?

If so they can pursue the registered keeper for the fine, and don't have to identify the driver. See Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.

WellKnownSid

jimmy156 said:

Thanks for the replies all.

I've skimmed through the information on the sticky... our LBC made no reference to a deadline / 30 days. It just asked us to pay. Communication with them via their online portal has resulted in them telling us we have 7 days.

The complicating issue is that it's my wife's car / she's the registered keeper. She is 100% not prepared to go to court over this. Showing her the rather long and complicated information on the sticky thread would probably just persuade her to pay it!

That is the business model here.

1, Scary letter saying YOU OWE MONEY
2. Accountability sink set up so that any and all attempts to communicate direct you to a card payment (with added urgency)
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 (sometimes with a “discount” offered for prompt payment or a payment plan despite your repeated very naughty offences) until you pay

When I received a “fine” and threat of court it was impossible to communicate so I ended up writing to the three CEOs concerned (the hotel, the motorway services, and Capita) and told them they would be co-defendants in court. The “fine” was cancelled in a matter of hours.