Points of law

We live on a main road a few doors away from a private road, where we’ve parked for the past 10 years. Recently a woman in one of the cottages at the end of it asked us to move our car. We didn’t and the next day found a parking ticket on our car. It wasn’t a council one and looks suspiciously “rogue”, so we don’t want to pay. A couple of new “no parking” signs give an 0845 number that leads to an answerphone, a website that doesn’t work and an email address. We don’t know who owns the road (the woman admitted that she didn’t); it certainly isn’t maintained by the council. What are our legal rights? KT, by email

David Fleming writes

The problem with private roads …