POFA 2012
Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is the only route a private parking company has to hold you liable as the registered keeper of a vehicle when they cannot identify the driver. Miss a single requirement and keeper liability falls away.
Key points
- Keeper liability only applies to relevant land in England and Wales, and only if the operator follows Schedule 4 exactly.
- A Notice to Keeper must be served within 14 days of the parking event where no notice was placed on the vehicle.
- The notice must specify the period of parking, the amount owed and invite the driver to pay or name themselves.
- The notice must include the prescribed wording about the operator's right to recover from the keeper.
1Who the operator can actually charge
The contract is with the driver, not the keeper. If the operator does not know who was driving, they can only pursue the registered keeper by relying on POFA. You are never obliged to name the driver — but be aware that some operators then treat the keeper as liable under POFA.
2Notice timings that matter
If a notice was put on the windscreen (a Notice to Driver), the Notice to Keeper can only be issued between 28 and 56 days later. Where there was no windscreen notice — camera-based sites, for example — the Notice to Keeper must arrive within 14 days of the parking event. Late notices are a strong appeal point.
3Wording and content requirements
The notice must state the period of parking, describe the alleged breach, state the unpaid amount, identify the creditor, and contain the specific statutory warnings. Vague or missing details — such as no clear parking period — commonly invalidate keeper liability.
4Land POFA does not cover
POFA does not apply to land covered by statutory parking control, such as council-controlled roads, or to most airport-style byelaw land. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no equivalent keeper liability, so operators there must identify the driver.
Top tip
Check the date on the postmark and the parking date. A Notice to Keeper that arrives outside the POFA window is one of the strongest appeal grounds there is.
Think this applies to your ticket?
Send us your notice and we'll tell you exactly which rules the operator has broken.
Submit Your Case Now