Here's a starter from me
Regards NeilSteve's unwanted scam penalty charge was reminiscent for a similar thing which landed on my doormat a few weeks ago.
It wasnt a Council thing or a Police thing but a private car parking management company. There was a penalty charge of £100 and a cut-off picture of the Nissan Leaf showing the numberplate and not much more.
The location of the "offence" was decribed in a two-word street name. No number/no postcode/no town. The picture could have been taken anywhere, and the offence.....
"leaving the premises"
The scam-like pay within x days and the fine will be reduced to £60 was also part of information.
To cut a long story short, I discovered that it was a private car park of a coffee shop we have used for years which had been having trouble with customers of the wine bar next door using their car park so they had employed a car parking management company to enforce their "customers only" rules in the car park.
The parking company waived the charge on my appeal backed up by the owner of the coffee shop. Rather than sitting in the car on a hot day, while my wife was getting the takeaway coffees and cake, I had got out the car wandered about a bit and had been caught on camera exiting the car park.
Notices are posted all around the walls noting the terms and conditions you supposedly agree to for parking in the private car park. The most obvious and one with which I would wholeheartedly agree is customers only. However, one of the conditions, (which I found out later), was "Drivers must remain on the premises at all times". Hands up anyone apart from me now, who reads the notices in full, or at all when parking in similar circumstances.
If anyone could be bothered to escalate the hassle and take a bit legal advice, I am fairly sure that restriction of a driver's civil liberties would be an unfair term and condition of any sort of contract entered into to park on the private land, and because there is no charge for the parking, and therefore no contract anyway, any sort of penalty clause or fine would be invalid and not recoverable.
Thankfully this litte saga had the Enid Blyton "Alls well that ends well" conclusion.