DM parking ticket, impossible for it to be her car

[DivisionBelles]

I need a bit of advice. My elderly DM received a £100 parking charge through the post yesterday from a company called Parking Control Management (UK) Ltd. The registration number is correct but she cannot possibly have been at the location the ticket was issued at, which is at least 200 miles from here. She's 76, and only drives about 3 miles from her house. She's obviously pretty worried about it. I have POA and want to call them, but cannot understand how they've made the mistake. What to do? Ignore or tackle them?

Someone has cloned your mums car. Think you’ll need to report it to the police?

They usually send a picture of the car with the letter informing you you've been caught. At least they did when we got caught

Write to/ring the company and ask for evidence. They may have got the Reg wrong.

Just looked up the photo evidence and it's definitely her reg number. It cannot possibly be her though! The car looks different inside to me - different colour seats to start.

Yes there should be a photograph of the car with the ticket. When we got a private parking ticket there was about 5 different pictures.
Is there a way to prove her car was miles away?

Contact the police. Sounds like fake plates.

You need to report to the police and DVLA that her car has been cloned. Get a crime number and write to the ticket issuer with the crime number saying you want to appeal.

You should be able to appeal this. My DF recently bad a speeding ticket somewhere that he wasn't (and his car was with him, he'd gone shopping). It was apparently pretty easy to straighten out which was a relief as at 80 he gets stressed about these things.

On the phone to the police now. She knows where she was that day, but not sure she'll have any evidence to prove it. Aargh! She was duped out of 11k last year (court case pending) so this is very unwelcome!

Turns out the plate has been cloned. Police just called back. The fraudulent vehicle was stopped by the police a few days after the ticket was issued and they verified that the chassis number and the reg plate don't match so the car has been impounded. Just need to appeal to the parking company now with the police log number and fingers crossed, it's all sorted.

Well done op..your poor mum