Where is the Notice to Keeper (NtK) that should have followed the Notice to Driver (NtD)?
Based on the Notice to Driver (NtD) and the so-called “Letter Before Claim” from P4 Parking (UK) Ltd, and given that this incident occurred in Scotland, here is my assessment of the case so far:
The parking charge notice was issued in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 16 November 2024 for displaying an expired permit. The notice was placed on the windscreen, so it is a Notice to Driver (NtD), not a Notice to Keeper (NtK).
Since the event occurred in Scotland and you are a Scottish resident, the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 does not apply. That means the registered keeper cannot be held liable unless they are proven to have been the driver.
The keeper has not responded or identified the driver, so there is no legal basis to pursue them under Scottish law. The letters received by the Keeper, including the most recent so-called “Letter Before Claim” dated 24 May 2025, have all come from P4 Parking and their agents, but none of them are actual court claims. The debt collector letters from TNC can be safely ignored.
The letter before claim does not comply with the requirements for raising a Simple Procedure claim in Scotland. It is not a real legal notice and is designed to pressure the recipient, who they assume to be low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree and will simply pay up out of ignorance and fear, rather than beginning legal proceedings. No legitimate Simple Procedure form has been served. Therefore, at this stage, the case has not progressed beyond standard, powerless debt collection threats.
I would eat my hat if P4 Parking ever initiated a claim in Scotland. The chances of P4 Parking initiating court proceedings in Scotland are incredibly low for several practical and financial reasons.
First, Scotland does not have an automated bulk claims process like the Civil National Business Centre (CNBC) in England. English parking companies like P4 Parking are used to issuing hundreds or thousands of claims in England and Wales at minimal cost using online batch processes. In Scotland, there is no such system. Every claim must be submitted individually through the Simple Procedure in the Sheriff Court, which is slower, more formal, and requires greater administrative effort.
To initiate a Simple Procedure claim in Scotland, the company would need to:
• Identify and submit the correct court paperwork manually or online.
• Pay a court fee upfront. For claims of up to £300, the fee is currently £19. For claims above £300 and up to £5,000, the fee is £106.
• Serve the paperwork on the defender (you) either through the sheriff officers or by recorded delivery, which also involves time, effort, and further cost.
• Prepare for a possible hearing and potentially travel to a Scottish court, or more likely, appoint a local solicitor or lay representative at a typical, unrecoverable cost of at least £150-£300.
In this case, the original parking charge is £100. The extra £70 “admin fee” they are trying to claim would not be permitted by a Scottish Sheriff. Scottish courts generally do not allow inflated add-ons that are not a genuine pre-estimate of loss or part of a properly incorporated contract. The maximum they could realistically recover would be close to the original £100 charge, more likely less, even assuming they were successful, if the court deems that the terms and signage were unclear, the permit issue was minor, or that the driver was not properly notified.
Moreover, there is no keeper liability in Scotland. That means unless they can prove who the driver was (which they cannot, since you have not identified them), they are very unlikely to succeed in any claim. English companies pursuing Scottish keepers must overcome this evidential barrier, or risk their claim being dismissed early.
Taking all this into account, the cost of pursuing a claim (both in money and effort) far outweighs the amount they could possibly recover, and their chances of success are less than slim. I don't know of any English, unregulated private parking companies in this situation that have actually pursued claims in Scotland at all. Instead, they rely on intimidating letters from debt collectors to scare the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree into paying out of ignorance and fear. This is why the threat of legal action in such cases is hollow, and actual court action in Scotland by these firms is as rare as hens teeth.
So, at this stage, you should do nothing. Do not respond to P4 Parking, and certainly do not contact any powerless debt collection agents acting on their behalf. Keep all correspondence in a safe place, but there is no need to take any action unless you receive official court papers from the Scottish Sheriff Court—which is exceedingly unlikely. If that ever happens (and I doubt it will), let us know immediately and we’ll help you deal with it. Until then, treat this for what it is: empty intimidation designed to frighten people into paying a charge they have no legal obligation to settle.