I wouldn't ignore it, but certainly don't pay it. There are a couple of stances you can take. Firstly, you could write to them and ask them to supply information on who was driving the car at the time so that you can pass the ticket to the relevant person. They will almost certainly tell you that it is not the driver, but the registered keep who is responsible for the ticket. That, however, is not the case. This is a civil contractual matter and, as such, any action should be raised against the driver. Alternatively, you could write to them, as Howard suggests, asking under what basis they consider the driver to have formed a contract with the land owner and also ask them to demonstrate the financial loss of £50 sufferred by the land owner as a result of your parking, as, under English law, a contractual penalty cannot exceed the financial loss sufferred by a breach of contract.

Hi rjb, as this fine is from Euro Car Parks, a private enforcement company, then it falls under civil contract law and cannot be enforced by criminal proceedings so be strong and don't give in to them! Have a look through the rest of the site and, in particular, here for more information on how to handle this.

Just called Central Ticketing and had a fun conversation with one of their agents and then his supervisor I have about 40 outstanding tickets with them for parking in my own car parking space because my resident's permit had fallen off the dashboard, or I had simply forgotten to transfer it between cars. I haven't bothered to do anything about them as I know there is no way they can enforce the tickets and, to be honest, quite enjoy calling them every now and again to wind them up This time I decided to call them and tell them that I wasn't going to bother fighting the tickets and would try to arrange payment. The chap I spoke to seemed very pleased until I asked him to supply me with details of the driver, so that I could forward the tickets on to him for payment. He started to tell me that it was the registered keeper who was responsible for the tickets, until I quoted contractual law to him and advised that, as it was a civil matter, they would have to chase the actual driver for payment. This threw him, so he went to check with his supervisor, but came back feeling quite assured that he was correct. I asked to speak to his supervisor, a woman called Marie Key. She went further by stating that, as the registered keeper of the vehicle, I was responsible for the ticket and that this was backed up by the DVLA code of practice to which they adhered and that the code of practice gave them all the backup they need to take the case to court. Once I had finished laughing, I pointed out that the DVLA code of practice dealt purely with how the companies should manage the information provided to them by the DVLA and that it is simply a voluntary code of practice, not a law. I then pointed out that the signs they have erected in our car park simply state that to park there you must be a permit holder. I pointed out to her that I was a permit holder and therefore complied with their implied contract. She told me that the signs stated that I had to display the permit. I reminder that I park beside the signs everyday and would be happy to send her a photograph to prove that that was not the case. At that point she told me that I was being pedantic and that a court would not view it that way. Apparently they have taken loads of people to court in the past and won because by parking there with displaying a permit I was, in fact, trespassing I asked her how I could be trespassing by parking in a space for which I had paid £15,000, to which she replied that I hadn't paid for the space and that it was owned by the management company. When I pointed out that the resident's actually employed the management company and that they did not own any property within the development, she told me to send in an extract from the land registry to prove that I owned the land. I told her not to be silly and that I would produce that in court if they really wanted to take it that far. She then told me that if I waited until it got to court, a judge would simply award in their favour as I had not produced the documents in advance of it going to court. Oh, what a great legal mind she is!! Throughout this she was getting more and more frustrated and actually started shouting down the phone at me that she was not a lawyer and would not enter into a discussion on points of law. The more angry she got, the more I laughed until finally she hung up on me. It was the best fun I've had in ages.

I would simply stick with the facts and state that the ticket was not handed to you or fixed to your windscreen. No need to elaborate and tell them that it was thrown through your window...