On Sunday 21 December 2014, I visited friends in Leeds. I parked, as suggested by my friend, in the courtyard of the block of flats in which he lives (ie private land).
On returning to the car (roughly 60 to 90 minutes later), I found a note stuck to the windscreen. The note was a reasonable facsimile of a parking ticket - a yellow and black plasstic envelope containing a form headed "Penalty Charge Notice" - but issued by a private firm (City Permits) on private land.
I admit that the car was parked on private land without authorisation, but there was plenty of space as there were very few cars there at the time and, in my judgement, no obstruction or damage was caused.
The form states,
"The penalty charge of £85 is payable within 28 days of this notice. A discounted sum of £60 wil be accepted in settlement of the charge if received within 14 days fromm the date of issues (sic)."
There are the usual threats of tracking me down through the DVLA and court action if the charge remains unpaid.
A slight complication is the fact that the car was on hire from a local car hire company with whom I would like to keep a good relationship.
Advice as to how to deal with this, would be very much appreciiated.