A couple of years ago I parked in a disabled space
I had my mother-in-law in the car who was 91 at the time and a blue badge holder but I never put the badge on the dash as it was late and I was only going to be a couple of minutes buying her a new torch. It was 7:50pm and Halfords Braehead closed at 8:00pm, there was not another vehicle in the car park, the tarmac was completely empty and it was pouring down with rain. I was in and out Halfords in 4 minutes flat and on returning to the car a ticket was stuck to my window. M-i-L told me that as soon as I had went into the shop the parking attendant ran over to the car and slapped the ticket on, she was terrified as she didn't know what he was doing and she slid into the back seat to hide from him. After a bit of research it turns out these parking attendants hide round the corner and wait on unsuspecting motorists to park and as soon as the motorist enters a shop they run out and issue a ticket. My ticket was duly 'filed' under miscellaneous parking and ignored along with about a dozen threatening letters. They eventually give up
In Scotland (I think it's now different south of Hadrian's Wall due to a recent change in the law) when/if you receive a parking 'invoice' (remember only a police officer or a local authority traffic warden can issue a parking 'fine') the best thing to do is ignore the invoice, it's not a fine, it's a request for payment that in Scotland holds no legal requirement for you to pay
Do not be tempted to contact the company that sent you the invoice, once they know they have the correct details they will pester you more than ever and apply more pressure for you to pay. SWMBO has probably had about 15-20 of these over the last 4 years, none have ever been paid, none have ever went to court and we have never phoned the sender to complain... Tell them nothing, they need to find who the actual driver was on the day and if they can't get that detail there is sod all they can do about it
My biggest worry right now is SWMBO is in Silverburn as I type this so can expect another ticket before Christmas
