Sunderland motorists warned about new bogus parking fine scam

Sunderland City Council have released a copy of the text which claims to have been sent for a fixed penalty regarding a parking fine.

The text message states: “This is the final notice. In case of persistent non payment legal proceedings may be initiated against you. This may lead to a County Court judgment which will have a negative impact on your credit rating.”

The text message then goes on to instruct people to click on a payment link where they are asked to fill in their bank details.

In a post on social media, a Sunderland City Council spokesperson said: “Our Parking team have recently had reports of a scam text circulating about parking fines and Penalty Charge Notices (PCN).

“These texts are not from us. We do not send text messages about payments of fines for Penalty Charge Notices.

“A vehicle will either be issued a notice directly on the vehicle by a Civil Enforcement Officer, or if it is a camera issued Penalty Charge Notice, a statutory document will be sent to the keeper of the car’s address in a hard copy letter format.”

This is the latest in a series of parking scams in the city. In February and March motorists in Sunderland were warned about a fake QR code on parking machines which again led to a link asking people to input bank details.