Notice to Hirer late or missing the required documents — hirer not liable (para 14)
When a ticketed vehicle was on hire and the hire firm has validly passed liability on by sending the operator the paragraph 13(2) documents (statement of hire, copy hire agreement, hirer's liability statement), the operator can pursue the HIRER only by strict compliance with paragraph 14: it must give the hirer a 'notice to hirer' within 21 days beginning with the day after it received the paragraph 13(2) documents, and that notice must be accompanied by a copy of those documents AND the original notice to keeper (para 14(2)(a)). The notice must also contain the paragraph 14(5) prescribed content, and no recovery step may be taken until 21 days after the notice to hirer was given (para 14(2)(b)). Operators very commonly send a bare demand letter with no accompanying documents — that fails paragraph 14(2)(a) and the hirer is not liable. Complements UK-DVLA-002 and UK-PROC-006, which cover the hire FIRM's side (the para 13 election); this entry is the HIRER's defence to the creditor's own notice.
Legal basis
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, paragraph 14(2)(a): the creditor must give the hirer 'a notice in accordance with sub-paragraph (5) (a "notice to hirer"), together with a copy of the documents mentioned in paragraph 13(2) and the notice to keeper', within 'the period of 21 days beginning with the day after that on which the documents required by paragraph 13(2) are given to the creditor'; paragraph 14(2)(b): a further 21 days must elapse after the notice to hirer before recovery; paragraph 14(5): prescribed contents of the notice to hirer; paragraph 13(2): the hire-firm documents. England and Wales only.
How to identify this in your case
Applies when the customer HIRED the vehicle (hire, lease or courtesy car under a hire agreement) and is being pursued after the hire firm passed the charge on. Check what arrived: did the operator's letter to the hirer enclose (1) the hire firm's statement, (2) a copy of the hire agreement, (3) the hirer's signed liability statement, and (4) the original Notice to Keeper? A demand letter arriving without those enclosures fails paragraph 14(2)(a). Timing is put-to-proof: the hirer cannot know when the operator received the para 13(2) documents, so demand the operator prove its notice was given within the 21-day period.
Sample appeal wording
formal
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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