Dear PoP – A ticket without actually getting a ticket

“Dear PoP,

I wanted to know if this was a common and accepted practice, or if I should attempt to contest this:

Twice within the past few months, I have failed to move my car on street sweeping day but wasn’t actually ticketed. Woops. I’m usually pretty good about it, but every so often I take my bike to work or take a day off and don’t wake up in time. Anyway, I received a notice in the mail for failure to pay a parking ticket for the first offense. I never had a ticket on my car, so I figured I got lucky. I have no problem paying the fine, it was my fault, but to pay the late fee on a ticket I never knew existed seems ridiculous. Out of curiosity, after the second time I failed to move my car, I kept checking back on the DMV’s website to see if a new ticket appeared. Sure enough, about a week later, there it was. I’ll pay this one before it doubles, but I just feel like this is messed up!”

This is an interesting question that I’ve wondered about in the past. What happens if you get a ticket and the wind blows it off or it somehow disappears? Has this happened to anyone else? I assume you just gotta pay it when you get the notice in the mail, right?