Declaring the vehicle as hired

doublinedancer

I have a general question regarding hired vehicles and how POFA relates to it.

I have several commercial vehicles all of which are hired. Being on excellent terms with the keeper they just forward a ticket on to me and i respond with an appeal stating that i am the hirer. I then get a letter stating that "due to various compliance regulations we can only enter into correspondence with the driver of the vehicle or, where we are unaware of the name and address of the driver, the registered keeper". This dated the 3rd June and in which they reset the appeal deadline to 28 days. 14 days later i get a letter stating that the charge is now overdue and it is too ,late to appeal to POPLA. The usual threatogram without foundation i guess.

I would be very grateful of some clarity from some of your purveyors of sanity to enlighten me if i have been wrong to name myself as the hirer without supplying the name of the driver and should i have got the keeper to transfer authority to me. I'm not sure if i have stymied myself but this i have done in the past without issue.

Very many thanks to anyone who uses their valuable time to respond.

StaffsSW

In the correspondence, I'd suggest that you refer to yourself as "The Keeper" - which is not necessarily the same as the registered keeper, and not necessarily the driver.

POFA states that - “keeper” means the person by whom the vehicle is kept at the time the vehicle was parked, which in the case of a registered vehicle is to be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to be the registered keeper; - a very salient point to note in your situation. You will have a contract that passes liability from the RK, to you, the day to day keeper. There is a lot of legal precedent that clarifies this as well, notably a certain Jonathan Kirk QC has won a few of the cases that set this precedent, and one that I am happy to use against the same parking company that hired him recently...


Your hire company should ideally be replying directly and naming you/your business as the hirer, which the PPC will then follow up with a Notice To Hirer, and the RK is then absolved of any notion of responsibility.

doublinedancer

That's brilliant StaffsSW and many thanks for the clarification. The legal precedent you quote is great support to the argument. You're right though about the hire copany transfering liability, I'll tell them and avoid all this rubbish but judging by what you advise, they have probably made procedural errors which help nullify the PCN.

Would you suggest that i wait untill closer to the end of the 28 day period or send a response now?

I'll be making a contribution to the site as this is now the third post that i've been helped with by folks who give up their time assisting strangers.

Extremely grateful.

Fruitcake

As StaffsSW says, Your hire company should ideally be replying directly and naming you/your business as the hirer, which the PPC will then follow up with a Notice To Hirer, and the RK is then absolved of any notion of responsibility.


Is your hire company a member of the BVRLA? This will make things easier if they are. If they are members, the BVRLA code of practice tells them to pass on the hirers details, not pay the PCN on the hirer's behalf.


When the hire company reply to the PPC and name you as keeper, they must also supply a copy of the hire agreement. The PPC must in turn provide you with a copy of the hire agreement when they send you the PCN. If they don't, the PCN does not meet the requirements of the POFA and therefore the keeper (you) is not liable, only the driver.


The BVRLA info can be found here.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9b0iavad3aqeh28/BPA%20BVRLA%20MoU.pdf?dl=0

If you don't tell the PPC who the driver is, they are stuffed, although they will bluff and bluster to the contrary.