Understood but through no fault of their own, the hotel and then Hertz caused
@jastel some loss (which may have been rectified). It also demonstrates that the company issuing the invoice can obtain rego details and send their invoice (which will look like a ticket) to the registered owner. Or their may have been a Hertz sticker visible.
In some states here, private companies can't get that information from, for eg, Vicroads, so have nowhere to send an invoice except attach it to the vehicle. Dunno about other states or counties in the UK. We live in the ACT but my wife's car is registered in VIC so when we use, say, a Wilson carpark we don't pay. Twice we've got a "ticket" and twice we've ignored without ramification. We've also seen "tickets" on nearby cars but not ours so maybe some "parking inspectors" know. Their business model relies upon the victim contacting them to dispute and unwittingly leaving their details.