You can safely ignore anything from Trace. They are a powerless debt collector and the only thing that can actually do is to try and make the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree pay up out of ignorance and fear.
As long as the initial appeal was made by the Keeper and the driver was not identified, there is nothing they can do about this. That does not mean that they won't try and litigate this. However, it would never be allowed to get as far as a hearing if your facts are correct.
If the alleged contravention was on 25th August 2021, the initial Notice to Keeper (NtK) must have been issued no later than 6th September. If the date of the original (reminders do not count) NtK was 1st November 2021, then there can be no Keeper liability.
Was this issued as postal NtK or was there a windscreen Notice to Driver (NtD)?
Until you verify the dates of the actual notices and the types, there is little else you can do for now. If/when you receive a Letter of Claim (LoC), there will be more to do. Never, ever, enter into communication with a powerless debt collector.
