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 a notice to driver 'has been given 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
formal
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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