Appeal a Late Parking
Charge Notice
If the date printed on your Notice to Keeper (NTK) is 13 or more days after you parked, it was served too late, and the law stops the parking company making you - the vehicle's registered keeper - pay. It's one of the strongest grounds for a successful appeal, and one of the easiest to spot. We check the dates and appeal for you.
£14.99 flat fee · money back on covered operators
Under paragraph 9 of Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (POFA), a parking company that left no ticket on your car must give you its Notice to Keeper within 14 days, counted from the day after you parked. A notice sent by post counts as given on the second working day after it was posted, so one posted on day 13 usually lands too late. Miss that deadline and the operator loses the right to make you, the registered keeper, pay - even if the charge would otherwise have been valid. It can then only pursue the driver, whose identity it rarely knows.
One exception decides whether any of this applies to you. The 14-day rule covers charges you first heard about by post. If a warden put a ticket under your wiper at the time, a different clock runs and the notice is given between 28 and 56 days after that ticket, so the 14-day count does not apply. That is the usual pattern on permit and residential sites run by operators like UK Parking Control. Check which happened before you rely on the date.
Was Your Notice to Keeper Late? How to Check
Checking eligibility takes less than a minute. You need two pieces of information - or you can put them straight into our free POFA deadline calculator, which applies the deemed-service rule for you.
The date printed on the notice, against the date you parked
Ignore the day it came through your door. Nobody can prove that, so the law treats a posted notice as delivered two working days after the date printed on it. It must be delivered within 14 days starting the day after you parked, so the printed date usually needs to be 12 days or fewer after you parked.
| Date printed on the notice | Result |
|---|---|
| 13 or more days after you parked | Late, whatever day it was issued |
| 12 days after | Late if issued on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday |
| 11 days after | Late if issued on a Thursday or Friday |
| 10 days or fewer | In time, unless a bank holiday fell in the next two working days |
This is the rule where nothing was left on your windscreen, which covers camera car parks and airport drop-off zones. After a windscreen ticket a different 28 to 56 day window applies. The free deadline calculator checks both, weekday included.
Then upload the notice when you start your appeal, and we confirm the dates before anything is submitted.
The new government parking code, laid in Parliament on 20th October 2026, leaves this deadline exactly as it is: the 14 days come from POFA, which the code does not touch. What the new code does change.
Other POFA Defects We Check
Even if your notice was served within 14 days, there are other POFA requirements that operators frequently get wrong:
POFA requires NTKs to contain specific language and information. Missing elements - such as the invitation to name a hirer or the correct appeal reference - render the notice defective.
The NTK must correctly identify the creditor. If the named company does not match the actual landowner or operator at the time of the alleged contravention, this is a defect.
The NTK must state the period of parking to which the charge relates. A notice that only states a time without a clear period may be defective.
The NTK must be served to the registered keeper's address as recorded at DVLA. Service to an out-of-date address may not satisfy the POFA requirements.
Late Notice Appeal FAQ
Where no ticket was left on the vehicle, paragraph 9 of Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 requires the Notice to Keeper to be given within the 14 days beginning with the day after the parking event. A posted notice counts as given on the second working day after it was posted. If it is given any later, the operator cannot hold the registered keeper liable and can only pursue the driver.
Compare the date printed on the notice with the date you parked. If the printed date is 13 or more days after you parked, it was late. At 11 or 12 days it depends on the weekday it was issued, and at 10 days or fewer it was in time unless a bank holiday fell in the gap. The day it came through your door does not count, because nobody can prove it. The free POFA deadline calculator works it out for you.
POFA also requires the NTK to contain specific prescribed information. If the notice is missing required details - such as the right to name a hirer, an appeal invitation, or specific warning language - it may be defective even if served on time.
If your appeal is accepted on late NTK grounds, the charge is cancelled and the parking company cannot lawfully pursue the registered keeper for that specific charge. They may only pursue the actual driver, whose identity they do not have.
Related parking appeal guides
APCOA is the operator most often caught serving late notices. See our dedicated APCOA appeal guide for the full approach.
Airport drop-off Notices to Keeper are frequently posted late - one of the most common ways keeper liability is broken.
Station car parks came inside the POFA rules in December 2025, which makes the 14-day deadline the strongest ground available on a station charge.
Upload your PCN and NTK - we confirm eligibility and appeal for £14.99.