Hire/lease vehicle — POFA Sch 4 para 13/14 election by hire firm

PoFA 2012 Sch 4 paragraphs 13 and 14 govern hired vehicles — and they apply to a hire agreement of ANY duration (para 13(6)(a)), from a one-day rental to a long lease. Para 13: where the vehicle was on hire when it was parked and the operator has served a notice to keeper on the registered keeper (the hire firm), the hire firm escapes keeper liability by giving the operator, within 28 days, three documents: a statement that the vehicle was hired to a named person, a copy of the hire agreement, and a copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer (para 13(2)). Para 14: only then may the operator pursue the hirer — and only if, within 21 days of receiving those documents, it serves the hirer a compliant notice to hirer enclosing copies of those documents and the original notice to keeper (para 14(2)). Operators frequently skip this chain and demand payment from the hirer directly. Without a compliant para 14 notice to hirer, no Schedule 4 liability attaches to the hirer, and the operator is left having to prove who was actually driving. Note: this defeats keeper/hirer liability only — do not identify or imply who was driving.

Legal basis

PoFA 2012 Sch 4 para 13 (hired vehicles: hire firm's documents to the creditor within 28 days) and para 14 (creditor's notice to hirer within 21 days); 'hire agreement' defined in para 13(6)(a) — any duration

How to identify this in your case

Vehicle was on hire or lease (any length of agreement) at the time. Recipient is the hirer. The operator demanded payment from the hirer directly, without serving a notice to hirer enclosing copies of the hire documents and the original notice to keeper.

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.

No compliant notice to hirer was served under Sch 4 para 14(2) enclosing the para 13(2) documents (statement of hire, copy hire agreement, signed statement of liability); no Schedule 4 liability arises against me as hirer, and the operator must prove who was driving.

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Hire/lease vehicle — POFA Sch 4 para 13/14 election by hire firm

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps