PUBLISHED ONOctober 14, 2026 5:01 AMUPDATEDOctober 17, 2026 11:48 AMBYLim KeweiLetters about illegal parking keep arriving at an elderly couple's house — except they do not own a car.
Since September 2025, over 50 letters and reminder notices to settle fines for parking offences have been sent by the authorities, reported Shin Min Daily News.
To the couple's surprise, they have even been summoned to attend court because of the unpaid fines, the report stated.
Deliveryman Wang, 70, told the publication that the letters are addressed to his wife, who does not drive.
"We don't own a car, and neither do our two children. It's perplexing," he said of the situation.
Wang explained that his last car bore the licence plate number "4155" and was scrapped in 2024.
On the other hand, the letters state the licence plate of the offending car as "7965Y".
According to Shin Min, the unknown owner of the car in question had been issued 19 tickets for parking offences in the Toa Payoh and Jalan Sultan areas between Sept 19, 2025 and Feb 5, 2026.
The fine amount totalled about $1,320.
The couple said they have made two police reports over the situation.
In the report, Wang's wife reportedly said she had contacted the Land Transport Authority and verified that the car was not registered in her name. She also reportedly clarified to the Housing Development Board that she was not the vehicle owner.
The man said they understood from the authorities that they could disregard the tickets if they are not the car owner.
"My wife has been having sleep difficulties because of this. We are just ordinary people, we didn't break the law, and we don't have the money to pay the fine," he complained.
Wang's wife added that some of the traffic tickets appear to have been waived, but about nine are still outstanding.
The woman has been informed by the authorities about not needing to appear in court, and the authorities are currently investigating the matter, reported Shin Min.
HDB told AsiaOne that it is aware of this case, where their checks found that the resident was the last registered owner of the vehicle, which was deregistered in October 2000.
However, starting from September 2025, the vehicle's registration number was used to pay motorcycle charges instead of car parking charges, thus resulting in under-declared parking charges, said HDB.
Parking offence notices were automatically issued to this resident since she was the last registered owner of the vehicle.
However, the housing board said that they immediately stopped issuing new parking offence notices to the resident after discovering the discrepancy.
Even so, some of the reminders for earlier offence notices continued to be automatically sent to her.
"We have since cancelled all outstanding notices of this vehicle registration number that may be sent to the resident, and informed her that she may disregard the notices and reminders received," said HDB.
"We have also apologised to the resident."
HDB said its investigations with the relevant authorities found that another motorist had mistakenly keyed in the resident's former vehicle registration number instead of his own motorcycle number.
"We have reached out to him and assisted to correct the error. We have also ascertained that it was an honest mistake and he paid for his usual parking sessions based on motorcycle parking rates," said HDB.
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