Free Traffic Legal Advice

Received PCN as a registered keeper from Nexus group at the above hotel in Glencoe, Scotland. Apparently stayed on the car park for 40 mins. There was no signage that could be seen or pay and display machine on the car park. The car park was used to access the public showers which the hotel as offered for a number of years, to which they have never had parking charges for.
I have since found a photo from Google reviews showing the signage which is there. As you can see from the photo the signage only has an option between 1-2 hours, nothing less. Meaning there should be nothing to pay anyway?
The only way to pay for said parking is through an app, though as you can imagine being in the middle of the Scottish highlands there is no signal to download and pay for parking through said app.

An appeal has been made to which has been rejected. I have attached a copy of this email also.

Please could somebody advise on how one would proceed from here?

Many thanks for your help.

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Hopefully you didn't blab away the drivers identity in your appeal. Are you a Scottish resident and the vehicle is registered to a Scottish address?

For a single PCN nothing is ever going to happen, especially in Scotland. You will have to whether. whole load of useless debt recover letters which you can safely ignore. Never, ever, EVER communicate with a powerless dent collector. Their only function is to try and make the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree pay up out of ignorance and fear.

You will never receive a claim under the Simple Procedure north of the English border, especially from a firm of ex-clampers in England. It would cost them much more than they could ever hope to recover. Don't worry about it.

Unfortunately, that appeal has identified the Keeper as the driver, either directly or by strong inference.


This clearly places the appellant (the Keeper) on-site and engaging with the facilities, which implies they were present during the parking event.


This is a first-person admission of conduct during the parking event, indicating that the appellant was the one driving or, at a minimum, in control.


General context, but it follows personal commentary on signage and payment, adding to the cumulative impression.

Under Scots law, since PoFA does not apply, the operator can only pursue the driver, not the keeper. However, if the keeper admits to being the driver — or implies it clearly, as here — then the operator can rely on that admission to pursue them. This makes the keeper personally liable, defeating the protection that would otherwise exist under Scots law if the driver remained unidentified.

The operator can now pursue you because your appeal strongly implies you were the driver and the operator can now lawfully pursue you, English Keeper, in your personal capacity as the driver, even though the alleged contravention occurred in Scotland, and the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA) does not apply.

Your saving grace is that the operator must still raise any legal action in Scotland, since the cause of action (the alleged contract breach) took place there. Even if the Keeper lives in England, Scottish courts retain jurisdiction. That said, most operators avoid litigating in Scotland due to procedural complexity, cost, and higher evidential burdens. But you, as the Keeper, should not rely on this alone to avoid liability.

As the Keeper has inadvertently admitted to being the driver and the alleged contravention took place in Scotland, the operator is unlikely to litigate, but you expect a campaign of debt recovery letters (DRA letters).

Do not engage with the Debt Recovery Agents (DRAs). They are powerless to actually do anything except try and make the low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree pay up out of ignorance and fear. You can safely ignore all DRA letters and never, ever enter into an kind of communication with them.

Debt collectors have no legal powers to enforce payment or threaten court proceedings independently. Ignore them entirely — no calls, no emails, no responses.

Do not respond to any more parking operator correspondence unless a Letter of Claim (LoC) is received — which unlikely in Scotland but worth watching for. If the operator issues a Notice of Intended Court Proceedings with a clear Scottish legal reference (also unlikely), then come back and let us know and we can advise on how to deal with it.