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proceduralUK · England & WalesDifficulty: medium

Defective windscreen ticket (Notice to Driver) breaks the keeper-liability chain

On the windscreen-ticket route, keeper liability depends on the ORIGINAL windscreen ticket (the 'notice to driver') having been given in accordance with POFA 2012 Schedule 4 paragraph 7. Paragraph 7(2) prescribes its contents: it must specify the vehicle, the land and the period of parking; explain that a parking charge is required and the circumstances; state the total unpaid amount as at a specified time; give discount and dispute information; identify the creditor and how to pay; and state the time and date of the notice. It must also be given while the vehicle is stationary, by fixing it to the vehicle or handing it to the person in charge, before the vehicle is removed. If the notice to driver is defective, the paragraph 6(1)(a) condition fails and the keeper cannot be made liable — even if the follow-up Notice to Keeper is perfect. Distinct from UK-PROC-009 (windscreen ticket never actually issued at all).

Legal basis

Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, paragraph 7(2) (prescribed contents of the notice to driver, including vehicle, land, period of parking, total unpaid amount, creditor identity, payment method, and time and date of the notice), paragraph 7 (manner of giving: affixed to the vehicle or handed to the person in charge while stationary, before removal); paragraph 6(1)(a): keeper liability on this route requires that the creditor (or a person acting for or on behalf of the creditor) 'has given a notice to driver in accordance with paragraph 7'. England and Wales only.

How to identify this in your case

Applies where a windscreen ticket was given and the customer is pursued as keeper. Check the windscreen ticket (the customer or driver often kept or photographed it; the NtK must also repeat its specified information, which can expose the defect): is any paragraph 7(2) item missing — no period of parking, no creditor identified, no time/date, no amount, no payment or dispute details? Was it handed to a passer-by rather than fixed to the vehicle or given to the person in charge? If the customer no longer has the ticket, run this as pure put-to-proof: demand the operator prove paragraph 7 compliance with a copy of the notice as issued.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

Deadline. A late submission can be turned down without your argument being read. Check your notice for the deadline and how it is counted.
Paying may end it. Paying can count as accepting the notice and can close a challenge already under way. Part-paying or acknowledging an old debt can also revive a time limit that had expired.
The amount can change. Check what happens to the sum if you challenge — it may be held, re-offered lower, or keep rising, and fees or enforcement can continue meanwhile.
Use the official route. Use the method, recipient and form your notice specifies, with any reference, evidence and signature it asks for. Sent elsewhere, it may not count.
Only say what is true. Do not copy any statement of fact unless it is true for you, and check the legal point still applies. Delete what does not fit. It may be treated as your statement.
Careful what you volunteer. Avoid unnecessary admissions — naming the driver or accepting responsibility can remove arguments. But answer anything you are legally required to answer, and do include the evidence your ground needs.
Keep the record. Keep what you sent, the attachments, any receipt, and the reply. Note the next deadline.

Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.

I am the registered keeper and I was not the driver. Keeper liability on the windscreen-ticket route arises only where a notice to driver was given in accordance with paragraph 7 of Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (paragraph 6(1)(a)). I put you to strict proof, by production of a true copy of the notice to driver as issued, that it complied with every requirement of paragraph 7(2), including the period of parking, the total unpaid amount as at a specified time, the identity of the creditor, the arrangements for payment and dispute, and the time and date of the notice, and that it was given in the manner paragraph 7 requires. [IF A SPECIFIC DEFECT IS KNOWN: The notice to driver failed paragraph 7(2)([x]) in that it [DEFECT].] If paragraph 7 was not complied with, no keeper liability arises and I am under no obligation to identify the driver. Please cancel the charge.

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Defective windscreen ticket (Notice to Driver) breaks the keeper-liability chain

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps