[venting-ON] The time taken to research and provide the advice is free. What is not appreciated is when that advice is completely disregarded and and someone pays the scammers, thus becoming part of the problem rather than the solution. I specifically told you not to pay.
It is not and never was a "fine". I blame our shitty education system for not enlightening people at an early age to some very basic facts about their rights and the civil justice system. That "ignorance" is precisely what these rip-off firms rely on and it is an uphill struggle to just educate tiny fraction of recipients of these speculative invoices that they mistakenly consider as "fines" as though they are in breach of some criminal statute and so poop their pants and just pay.
These firms issue well over 42,000 PCNs a day! Yes, you read that right... every single day. We get to deal with a minuscule fraction of that number and in over 99.9% of cases where our advice is followed, not a penny is paid to fund these scamming companies.
So, yes, it is disappointing to hear that yet another victim has succumbed to their ignorance of the system and how to stand up for their rights, especially after time and effort is expended trying to assist them and save them their hard earned money. Now that it has been paid, you will be marked as a "mug" by these companies and you are likely to be scammed again, not necessarily with a PCN although they have your name, address and VRM.
The gullible tree is ripe with low-hanging fruit.[venting-OFF]
