Ticket for "wrong parking" despite parking legally
Police in the German district of Lippe have warned of fake parking tickets carrying QR codes. A driver had parked legally on a public street in Lemgo on Monday, 10 August 2026, police said. He nevertheless found a ticket for "wrong parking" on his car. It came from a company demanding 39.90 euros and included a QR code for payment.
Police made the case public on 17 August 2026. They did not name the company.
Companies cannot penalise parking on public streets
Police believe it was an attempted fraud. Enforcing parking rules on public streets is the job of the municipal public order authorities, they said. Companies can only demand payment for parking violations on private land, such as supermarket car parks with corresponding signs. On public streets there is no legal basis for such demands, police said.
Location is decisive: if a vehicle is parked on a public street, only the municipality can issue a ticket. A payment demand from a company in that situation indicates fraud, according to police.
A QR code alone does not prove a forgery
A QR code on a parking ticket is not in itself proof of fraud. The city of Detmold, also in the Lippe district, introduced its own parking tickets with QR codes in April 2019, according to the regional newspaper Lippische Landes-Zeitung. Using the code and a printed identifier, drivers could look up the offence and received payment details. The report does not say whether the system is still in use.
What matters is who issued the ticket and where the vehicle was parked. In July 2026, police in Villingen-Schwenningen warned of fake parking tickets that carried the city logo and the correct number plate, they said (report). The Lemgo ticket, by contrast, did not pose as a municipal notice but as a demand from a company.
Police advice
- • Do not pay a company's demand for a parking violation on a public street.
- • Do not scan QR codes from unknown senders left on your vehicle.
- • If in doubt, contact the local public order office.
- • Lippe police take information on +49 5231 6090.
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