Toll notice sent to the wrong registered keeper

A toll penalty notice must be sent to whoever was the registered keeper of the vehicle at the exact time it crossed. If you had already sold or transferred the vehicle before that crossing, or the DVLA records had not yet been updated, the notice has gone to the wrong person. If you were the previous keeper you have a complete defence — but you must show the transfer date from your V5C logbook paperwork.

Legal basis

Road User Charging Schemes (Penalty Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/1783) reg.6; Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 s.22; statutory ground 'the recipient was not the keeper'

How to identify this in your case

Check the date of transfer on your V5C logbook (or the new-keeper slip if you sold the car) and compare it with the crossing date on the notice.

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 was not the registered keeper at the time of the crossing. The vehicle was [sold to [name] on [date] / acquired by me on [date]]. The penalty should be re-issued to the actual keeper.

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Scan your PCN — our AI checks if this ground applies to your specific ticket, drafts a properly-cited appeal letter, and sends it for you where the council takes email — guiding you through their own online form where they use one, so you press submit. The win fee is only charged if you win.

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Toll notice sent to the wrong registered keeper

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps