Late Notice to Keeper (30+ days) – worth appealing?

MPulse

Hi everyone,

I received a Parking Charge Notice to Keeper from Civil Parking Office Ltd for “No Valid Parking Payment Found”.

My main concern is the timing of the notice.

• Parking event date: 31/01/2026
• Date of notice: 02/03/2026

As I understand, under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, if no windscreen ticket was issued and the operator wants to hold the registered keeper liable, the Notice to Keeper should normally be delivered within 14 days of the parking event.

In this case, the notice have been issued more than a month after the event.

The notice shows the operator is a member of the (BPA), so the independent appeal body would be POPLA if the initial appeal is rejected.

1. Should I go ahead and appeal based on this timing issue? 

2. What are the chances of success? 

3. Also, are there any particular precautions I should take when submitting the appeal.

Thanks in advance 

Coupon-mad

"Civil Parking Office Ltd"

Who are they? Some small fry?!

Show us both sides of the NTK with your data & all refs and QR codes redacted but ALL dates visible.

cooldude255220

Yes, appeal.

Do NOT identify the driver.

Are you definitely the registered keeper?

POPLA are hit and miss but better than the IAS.

I'd appeal on the following basis:

Paragraph 9(4) of Schedule 4 of POFA requires that, where the notice is sent by post, it is DELIVERED (not just sent) within the relevant period.

Paragraph 9(5) of Schedule 4 of POFA provides that the relevant period for delivery is 14 days, beginning with the day after the parking event.

The alleged parking event was 31/01/2026. Taking 01/02/2026 as the first day, that means 14/02/2026 is the 14th day - i.e. the last day on which the Notice could be DELIVERED and meet the requirement of Paragraph 9(4).

The notice is dated 02/03/2026. This is outside of the 14-day period in any event. The notice is deemed to be delivered (unless the contrary is proved) on the second working day after posting.

The 1st working day after posting is 03/03/2026. The second working day after posting is 04/03/2026 .

It is therefore deemed to have been delivered on 04/03/2026, which is after 14/02/2026 and therefore outside the permitted 14-day period for DELIVERY.

The Notice to Keeper was therefore not DELIVERED in accordance with paragraph 9(4) of POFA and therefore the right of recovery under paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 4 of POFA does not apply.

Of course, without seeing the NTK we have no idea whether there's any other good grounds of appeal.

MPulse

Thanks for the reply. I'm attaching both sides of the NTK below. I've made sure to redact all my personal data, reference numbers, and QR codes, but I've left all the dates visible as requested. Let me know what you think.

I received this letter today by post

kryten3000

Apart from being late, this notice fails POFA Paragraph 9(2)(e). No invitation to the keeper to pay or name the driver. They've said the keeper "should" tell them who the driver was, that's not correct.

cooldude255220

• Looks like there's a few issues, to me:

Paragraph 9(2)(b) of Schedule 4 requires that the notice must: inform the keeper that the driver is required to pay parking charges in respect of the specified period of parking and that the parking charges have not been paid in full.

Also agreed with the 9(2)(e) comment above.

Paragraph 9(2)(f) of Schedule 4 requires that the notice must: warn the keeper that if, after the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which the notice is given (i) the amount of the unpaid parking charges specified under paragraph (d) has not been paid in full, and (ii) the creditor does not know both the name of the driver and a current address for service for the driver the creditor will (if all the applicable conditions under this Schedule are met) have the right to recover from the keeper so much of that amount as remains unpaid;

MPulse

Hi everyone, Thank you all for your advice. I have drafted my appeal—could you please review it and let me know if it looks appropriate, or if there is anything else I should include at this stage?

Dear Appeals Department,

I am writing to formally appeal the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) referenced above as the Registered Keeper of the vehicle.

I deny any liability to your company for the following reason:

Failure to Comply with POFA 2012 (The 14-Day Rule)

According to Schedule 4, paragraph 9(4)(b) of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA), a Notice to Keeper must be delivered within 14 days of the alleged contravention if no notice was attached to the vehicle at the time.

• Alleged Contravention Date: 31/01/2026

• Date of this Notice: 02/03/2026

Your notice was issued 30 days after the event. By failing to meet the mandatory 14-day statutory deadline, you have forfeited the right to hold the Registered Keeper liable for this charge.

As there is no "Keeper Liability" in this case, you may only pursue the driver. I am under no legal obligation to identify the driver and I decline to do so. I request that you cancel this PCN immediately and remove my details from your system.

If you choose to reject this appeal, please provide the 10-digit POPLA verification code so that I may escalate this to the independent appeals service.