Unfortunately, we Brits are generally so passive that we are very easily exploited by whoever wishes to exploit us whether it be government, government agencies, bankers, Independent Financial Advisors, car manufacturers, car dealers, insurance companies, claims management companies, private equity firms, you name it. The business you described came out of the penalty culture instituted by Gordon Brown, an intellectually brilliant yet nevertheless blinkered man who saw the imposition of fines and penalties on motorists (of which he was not one) as a means of providing employment. The British Parking Association has inserted a devious clause into the Protection of Freedoms Bill to make 'keepers' of vehicles liable for trumped up private parking penalties in the same manner as they already are for motoring offences if they do not identify the driver. Happily, Wolverhampton magistrates recently saw the light and fined one parking enforcement outfit £26,750 for this despicable fraud.