Notice to Keeper vs Notice to Owner
Summary
Notice to Keeper (NtK): issued by private parking operators to the DVLA-registered keeper of a vehicle after the driver has failed to pay a parking charge notice. Governed by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4 — if non-compliant, keeper liability does not transfer and the operator cannot pursue the keeper. Notice to Owner (NtO): issued by councils under the Traffic Management Act 2004 after an unpaid statutory PCN. Triggers the formal representations stage and the statutory right to Tribunal appeal. Verdict: these documents are legally unrelated. A private operator's NtK that is non-compliant with POFA 2012 is a complete defence to keeper liability. A council NtO is a statutory notice with mandatory deadlines that must be acted on.
Notice to Keeper vs Notice to Owner
Side-by-side comparison:
POFA 2012 Requirements for a Valid NtK
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, para.8(2): the Notice to Keeper must be given not earlier than 28 days after the parking event and not later than 56 days after it (where no Notice to Driver was served). Para.8(2)(a)–(h) prescribes the mandatory contents: amount of the parking charge; date of the event; location; vehicle registration; keeper's right to name the driver; period within which payment or driver identification must occur; statement of the keeper's liability if they neither pay nor name the driver. Any omission or error in the mandatory contents means the NtK is non-compliant and keeper liability does not arise.
Why POFA Compliance Is the First Thing to Check
When you receive a private parking notice addressed to the 'registered keeper', the first question is not whether you were the driver — it is whether the notice complies with POFA Schedule 4. Check: (1) the date — was it issued between 28 and 56 days after the alleged event (if no Notice to Driver was served)? (2) Does it contain all the mandatory content under para.8(2)? (3) Was there a prior Notice to Driver? If so, different timescales apply. If the NtK fails on any POFA point, state in your appeal: 'The Notice to Keeper does not comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4. Accordingly, keeper liability has not transferred and this notice is of no effect against the registered keeper.' The operator cannot remedy a non-compliant NtK by issuing a corrected one after the 56-day window.
POFA Non-Compliance Success Rate
POPLA Annual Reports identify POFA non-compliance as one of the top three grounds on which appeals are upheld. Published assessor guidance notes that strict compliance with Schedule 4 is required — adjudicators apply the statute without equitable discretion. Given that the 28–56 day window and the detailed content requirements create multiple failure points for operators, POFA grounds succeed in a significant proportion of cases where they are correctly identified and argued.
Council NtO: Act Within 28 Days
A council Notice to Owner (for a statutory PCN) triggers a 28-day window for formal representations. Unlike the private NtK, there is no POFA equivalent — the council does not need to comply with Schedule 4. The NtO must be issued within 6 months of the original PCN date; if later than that it is time-barred. Once you receive an NtO, read the rejection date carefully and calendar the 28-day deadline immediately. Missing this deadline results in the charge certificate being issued automatically, adding a 50% surcharge — and there is no further appeal on the merits of the original PCN.
Sources
- Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, paras 7–9
- Traffic Management Act 2004, s.76
- Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007, regs.3–4
- POPLA Annual Report 2022–23
Frequently Asked Questions
- I received a notice addressed to 'the registered keeper' — which one is this?
- Check the issuer. If the notice is from a private company (ParkingEye, UKPC, APCOA etc.), it is a Notice to Keeper under POFA 2012. If it is from a council, TfL, or government body, it is a Notice to Owner under TMA 2004. The legal regime, compliance requirements, and appeal routes are completely different. Act on whichever applies within the relevant deadlines.
- If I was not the driver, do I have to identify them?
- For a private NtK under POFA 2012: if you neither pay the charge nor identify the driver within the period specified in the NtK, keeper liability arises. You are not legally required to identify the driver — you can decline — but liability then transfers to you as keeper. For a council NtO: you are not required to identify the driver of your vehicle to the council. The council's enforcement is against the registered keeper in their own right, not conditional on driver identification.
- Can a POFA non-compliant NtK be cured by the operator?
- No. If the NtK was served outside the 28–56 day window or is missing mandatory content, the defect cannot be remedied. The operator cannot issue a new NtK once the window has passed. Their only option is to pursue the driver (whom they typically cannot identify) rather than the keeper. POPLA adjudicators apply this strictly — there is no discretion to overlook POFA failures.
- What if I receive both a Notice to Driver and a Notice to Keeper?
- If the operator served a Notice to Driver (a PCN left on the windscreen or handed to the driver) and then later serves a Notice to Keeper, different POFA timescales apply: the NtK must be served no earlier than 28 days after the NtD. Check whether the driver-served notice was properly issued and whether the NtK falls within the statutory window calculated from that NtD date.
Related
- notice-to-keeper
- notice-to-owner
- pofa-non-compliance
- pofa-2012-schedule-4-para-7
- pofa-2012-schedule-4-para-8-9
- keeper-liability
- keeper-liability-transfer
- formal-representations
- council-pcn-appeal-deadline
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