Private parking companies usually don't know who was driving. They get the registered keeper's name from the DVLA and write to them. Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (often called PoFA) lets them hold the keeper liable instead of the driver, but only if they follow its rules exactly.
Camera charges by post: 14 days
Where nothing was left on the car, the notice to keeper must be delivered within 14 days, starting the day after your parking ended (paragraph 9). A posted notice counts as delivered on the second working day after posting, not counting weekends and bank holidays. If it arrived later than that, the operator can't use PoFA to hold the keeper liable.
Windscreen tickets: days 29 to 56
Where a ticket was put on the car, a notice to keeper can only be given after 28 days have passed, and must be given within the next 28 (paragraph 8). In practice that means arriving between day 29 and day 56 after the windscreen ticket.
What it means in practice
- If the operator missed the deadlines or the notice lacks required wording, the keeper isn't liable under PoFA. Don't then name the driver, or the point is lost.
- The driver can still be liable. This rule is about who the operator can pursue, not whether the parking terms were broken.
- Some land isn't "relevant land" under PoFA at all, such as land covered by statutory byelaws. Airports and railway stations are common examples, so keeper liability may not apply there.
Writing as the keeper
Appeal as "the registered keeper", say nothing about who was driving, and make your other points too. Our letters do this by default.
Source: Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, paragraphs 4, 6, 8 and 9 (text checked 31 October 2026). General information, not legal advice.