Free Traffic Legal Advice

Yes, it needs to arrive or be deemed to arive by 4/7, so if dated 7/7 it clearly can’t.

Presumably the first PCN issued and the V5C is correct so it wasn’t sent somewhere else first. Usually they don’t bother checking anyway.

They print the usual rubbish about “we may recover from you, the keeper, on the assumption that you were the driver” and whilst they can assume what they like, this assumption has no legal force because of the PoFA 2012 failure.

An appeal will probably lead to a rejection, followed by a rejection at the IAS, followed by a county court claim. I’m not sure how much history exists on the forum for London Parking Solutions, but many cases get discontinued if defended prior to the claimant having to pay the court fee. In particular, they seem to engage DCB Legal who almost always discontinue, but warn your friend that whilst the begging letters from DCBL can be ignored, DCB Legal and its Letter of Claim should be responded to. And that the driver should never be identified, and that no telephone calls should be made or accepted.

Plus no “period of parking” as you also note. So a simple defence based on this and the issue date will suffice in due course.

An obvious point, that you're probably experienced enough to be aware of, but your friend could also approach the management of Tesco, assuming the driver of their car was a customer. Anecdotally, supermarkets are better than most at intervening on behalf of customers.

OK, so if you follow and stay on top of the court process, it goes roughly like:
Letter of Claim, respond denying the claim and why in summary
N1SDT county court claim form, file optional Acknowledgment of Service (probably not necessary in this case) followed by defence, keep a watch on the deadlines for these. 14+5 days from the date on the N1SDT if just filing a defence.
Directions Questionnaire, N180, nominating defendant’s local court and a hearing in person. Instructions for its completion here if you search, can be sent by email and should include the claimant on copy.
Mandatory mediation session at which £0 is offered.
Attempts by DCB Legal to call which should be blocked/ignored.
Allocation to local court with dates and deadlines. Hopefully (not always) the payment deadline precedes the deadline for submission of papers.
Claimant discontinues rather than pay the court fee.

DCB Legal, and others, initiate county court claims in the knowledge that these either result in payment or a judgement in default because the defendant ignores them. Those that are defended properly aren’t worth their while pursuing.