Wilson, Secure or Care Park Sent You a “Breach Notice”? The Dispute Letter to Send Instead of Paying (2026)

You stayed 12 minutes past the paid time in a shopping-centre car park. Three weeks later a letter arrives from Wilson Parking, Secure Parking, Care Park or a “recovery” company acting for them: a “Payment Notice” or “Breach Notice” for $88, rising to $150 “if not paid within 14 days”, with warnings about “further recovery action” and a reference number that looks official.

A private operator has no power to fine anyone. What they have, at most, is a contract claim, and contract claims have rules. A short, correct reply usually ends it.

Your rights

• It’s a contract claim, not a penalty. The operator’s case is that by entering and parking, you accepted terms displayed on signs, and that overstaying breached them. That depends on the signs being visible, legible and clear about the amount before you committed to entering. Signs at the back of a level, or terms only available online, are weak.
• Penalties are unenforceable. A sum payable on breach that is out of all proportion to the operator’s legitimate interest in the parking terms being kept may be an unenforceable penalty. The High Court’s decision in Paciocco v ANZ (2016) is the leading authority.
• Unfair terms. Where the car-park terms are a standard-form consumer contract, the Australian Consumer Law unfair contract terms provisions apply, and since November 2023 using an unfair term is itself a contravention with penalties.
• They must prove the driver. The contract is with the person who drove in. The registered owner has no statutory obligation to nominate a driver to a private company, and operators typically obtain owner details through the state registry only for the purpose of a legal claim.
• Misleading conduct. Calling the notice a “fine”, implying it is issued under statute, threatening credit listing without a court judgment, or threatening “police” involvement can be misleading or deceptive under the ACL and a matter for the ACCC and your state consumer body.

By state

Private car-park claims are governed by contract law and the ACL, which are the same everywhere. What varies is the consumer regulator that has published guidance and takes complaints, and the small-claims forum the operator would have to use:

• New South Wales. NSW Fair Trading (which has stated private operators cannot issue fines); claims up to $20,000 go to the Local Court small claims division. Access to owner details through Transport for NSW is restricted.
• Victoria. Consumer Affairs Victoria; Magistrates’ Court (or VCAT for consumer matters). VicRoads releases owner details to private operators only in limited circumstances.
• Queensland. Office of Fair Trading; QCAT minor civil dispute (up to $25,000). TMR restricts owner-detail release.
• Western Australia. Consumer Protection WA; Magistrates Court minor cases (up to $10,000).
• South Australia. Consumer and Business Services; Magistrates Court minor civil claims (up to $12,000).
• Tasmania. Consumer, Building and Occupational Services; Magistrates Court minor civil claims.
• Australian Capital Territory. Access Canberra; ACAT civil disputes (up to $25,000).
• Northern Territory. NT Consumer Affairs; NTCAT (up to $25,000).

The Claim Done document asks your state first and names that state’s regulator and small-claims forum in the letter.

What to do right now

1. Don’t pay the “discounted” amount by reflex. Paying is accepting the contract and the amount. Read the notice for what it actually claims and who is claiming it.
2. Photograph the signs. Go back. Where are they, how big, what do they say about the amount, could you read them from the driver’s seat at the entry? This is the evidence.
3. Keep your receipts. If you paid for parking, the ticket or app record shows a contract on those terms. Overstaying by minutes is a small loss, not $88.
4. Reply in writing, once. State that you dispute the claim; that no enforceable contract was formed or, if it was, the amount is an unenforceable penalty and an unfair term; that they must not represent the notice as a fine or threaten credit listing; that you do not admit who was driving; and that if they believe they have a claim, the correct course is a small-claims application, which you will defend.
5. If they keep writing, complain. Your state consumer body and the ACCC. If the correspondence includes false threats (credit default, police, “court costs” before any court), say so in the complaint.

Will they actually sue?

Rarely. Court claims for sub-$100 amounts cost the operator more to file than they recover, they must prove the driver, and the penalty argument is a real risk to their whole notice model. The business model relies on volume of payments from people who think it’s a fine. What operators do instead is send escalating letters from a “recovery” partner. Those letters can’t create a judgment, can’t list a default (a default needs a credit provider and a debt for credit), and can’t affect your licence. What you should never do is ignore an actual court claim if one is served; file the defence and turn up.

Who to complain to

Your state consumer regulator (NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, Queensland OFT, Consumer Protection WA, CBS SA, CBOS Tasmania, Access Canberra, NT Consumer Affairs) for misleading notices and unfair terms; the ACCC for systemic misleading conduct; and, if the letters cross into harassment, the ACL s 50 prohibition applies and the same bodies take that complaint.

Answer the breach notice properly — $49

Claim Done drafts a Private Car-Park Breach Notice Dispute that disputes the contract, pleads the penalty and unfair-term points, refuses to identify the driver, warns against misrepresenting the notice as a fine or threatening credit listing, and names your state’s regulator and small-claims forum.

Dispute My Car-Park Breach Notice — $49 →

You review every word before it’s sent.