Oh dear! I'm assuming you blabbed the identity of the driver, which was a huge mistake. If you are a Scottish resident, there is no Keeper liability and they had no idea of the drivers identity until you gave it to them on a silver platter. Also, as the location is within the boundary of Manchester Airport, the land is under statutory control, and again, no Keeper liability.
Your only saving grace is that because you are a Scottish resident, this introduces too much complexity for the parking company. If you follow the advice from here on in, you can avoid having to pay a penny to the operator. You've thrown away the easiest chance you had, so don't screw it up any more by diving in and trying to mitigate your way out of it.
You can safely ignore all debt recovery letters. Debt collectors are powerless to do anything except to try and persuade the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to pay up out of ignorance and fear. No one here cares about useless debt recovery letters and you may as well shred them and use them as hamster bedding for all anyone cares.
Jurisdiction matters. The parking company is English. You are domiciled in Scotland. They cannot simply drag you into the English County Court. To pursue you, they would have to raise a claim in the Scottish Sheriff Court.
Doing that is hugely uneconomic for them:
For a single parking charge claim of £170, the lodging fee would be £19. Now, what that means for them:
• Claim value they try for: £170 (£100 PCN + £70 fake add-on).
• What the Sheriff is likely to allow: £100 (the fake £70 “debt recovery” would not be allowed).
• Maximum fixed expenses recoverable (for a claim under £200): £50.
So maximum award if they win: £150.
Against that:
• Court lodging fee they pay up front: £19.
• Local representation: they can’t just send their English bulk-litigator to a Scottish Sheriff Court. They would need a Scottish solicitor or local court agent. Even the cheapest agent to stand up in court is £150–£200 for a half-day.
• Preparation/admin costs: they can’t recover those either.
So the company is looking at spending at least £19 + £150 = ~£170 to run the case, all to recover £150 at best. That is before travel costs, solicitor oversight, and their own wasted admin time.
In short, they would be throwing good money after bad – chasing a maximum of £150 while burning well over £200 to do it. That’s why it’s commercial suicide for them to sue a Scottish resident for a single PCN.
For now you can safely ignore all the useless debt recovery threat-o-grams. If they really are so stupid as to issue a claim in the English county court against a Scottish resident, you would need to do the following:
1. Acknowledge service online (so they don’t risk default judgment).
2. In the Defence, make it absolutely clear:
• You are domiciled in Scotland.
• The English County Court has no jurisdiction over a Scottish resident.
• Any claim should have been raised, if at all, in the Scottish Sheriff Court.
3. Ask the court to strike out the claim for lack of jurisdiction under CPR 11.
4. If the court insists on a hearing, they can do it on paper or by written submissions – no need to travel.
5. If by some chance the court ignored jurisdiction and entered judgment, it would not be enforceable in Scotland without a whole separate process (which is complex and not worth it for £100).
Bottom line:
• The claim would be thrown out as soon as the Scottish domicile is pointed out.
• There is no risk of a CCJ, because jurisdiction kills it at the start.
So, for now, because you live in Scotland, this means no English CCJ risk. Ignore every single debt collector letter – they are worthless and cannot take you to court.
Do nothing. Sit tight and wait. The only thing that matters is if the parking company themselves (or their solicitors) send you a proper Letter of Claim (LoC). If that ever arrives, come back immediately for advice on how to respond. Until then, bin the debt collector junk mail and stop panicking.
