Notice sent to wrong address after you moved
When a parking company wants to hold the registered keeper responsible for a charge, they must send the keeper notice within strict time limits. Where no ticket was left on the windscreen (the usual case for camera-issued charges), the notice must be delivered to you within 14 days of the parking event; where a ticket was left on the car first, the postal notice window is 28 to 56 days instead. If the notice was sent to an old address because your DVLA record hadn't been updated, you may never have received it in time. Although it is your responsibility to keep your DVLA address current (and not doing so is itself an offence), the parking company can still be challenged if they cannot prove the notice was delivered within the window — though be aware the law presumes a posted notice arrived on the second working day after posting unless you can show otherwise. This ground defeats their right to pursue you as the keeper only: they can still pursue the driver, so do not volunteer who was driving.
Legal basis
PoFA 2012 Sch 4 paras 8, 9 (notice to keeper timing); paras 9(4)-(5) (NTK must be delivered within the 14-day relevant period where no notice to driver); para 9(6) (posted notice presumed delivered second working day after posting); Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/2742) reg 18 (keeper's duty to notify change of name or address)
How to identify this in your case
NTK was sent to a previous address; you moved before the event; or the NTK is deemed served outside the 14-day window.
Sample appeal wording
Dear [OPERATOR], Re: NTK [REF] — Vehicle [REG] The alleged contravention was on [DATE]. Under Schedule 4 paragraph 9(4)(a) PoFA 2012, where there has been no Notice to Driver, the Notice to Keeper must be given (i.e., received by the keeper in the ordinary course of post — Interpretation Act 1978 s.7) not later than 14 days after the day on which the parking event occurred. I did not receive the NTK until [DATE], which is more than 14 days after the event. Alternatively, you sent it to [OLD ADDRESS] on [DATE], which is outside the 14-day window. I require, under UK GDPR Art 15: 1. Proof of posting / Royal Mail certificate; 2. The address used and date of dispatch; 3. Your evidence of compliance with Sch 4 para 9(4). Without a compliant NTK, no keeper liability arises under paragraph 4(4). The charge is denied. Yours faithfully, [NAME]
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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Scan my ticketSources
- PoFA 2012 Sch 4 paras 8, 9
- Interpretation Act 1978 s.7
Related appeal grounds
- Aberdeen Clean Air Zone ticket issued too early
- Appealing a Scottish tribunal's legal error to a higher tribunal
- Attorney acting for keeper under Scottish power of attorney
- Bailiff acted without proper advance warning notice
- Bath CAZ — Sunset Period for Pre-Registered Commercial Vehicles
- Bay Obstructed or Too Small — Could Not Park Within the Bay Markings