Is the registered keeper liable on a windscreen parking ticket?
Spot the mistake in 3 seconds: this windscreen ticket says the keeper already owes it.
Read the notice as text
- Heading
- PARKING CHARGE NOTICE
- From
- Example Parking Ltd (fictional)
- Vehicle
- AB12 IDE
- Land
- Anytown Station Road car park (private)
- Date and time
- Sat 10 Oct 2026, 09:47
- Reason
- No valid ticket displayed
- Parking charge
- £100, reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days
- Liability
- The registered keeper is now liable for this charge under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.
What is wrong with it?
Tap the one you think is the mistake.
The £60 early rate
Not this one. Try another.
The line about who is liable
Yes, that is the mistake.
The reason for the charge
Not this one. Try another.
Show the answer
The mistake: The line about who is liable
On the day of the ticket nobody knows who was driving, and the law has a set route for moving the bill to the keeper. After a windscreen ticket, the company must wait, then send a separate Notice to Keeper in a fixed window, and then let another 28 days run. For a ticket on 10 October, a keeper letter delivered before 8 November does not count, and the keeper cannot owe anything before 6 December at the soonest. Saying the keeper is liable today is false, and the Code bars notices that claim keeper liability where it cannot exist.
The rule it breaks
has given a notice to driver in accordance with paragraph 7, followed by a notice to keeper in accordance with paragraph 8
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, Sch 4 para 6(1)(a), read 19 October 2026; quoted word for word.
Also in the text
The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 28 days following the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which the notice to driver was given.
Sch 4 para 8(5), read 19 October 2026; quoted word for word.
The right under this paragraph may only be exercised after the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the day on which the notice to keeper is given.
Sch 4 para 4(4), read 19 October 2026; quoted word for word.
state the keeper is liable under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 where they cannot be held liable
Clause 8.1.1(d), read 19 October 2026; quoted word for word.
The dates, worked out
| Windscreen notice given | Sat 10 Oct 2026 |
|---|---|
| A Notice to Keeper delivered before this does not count | Sun 8 Nov 2026, the day after the first 28 days (Sun 11 Oct 2026 to Sat 7 Nov 2026) end |
| Window for the Notice to Keeper | Sun 8 Nov 2026 to Sat 5 Dec 2026 |
| Earliest the keeper could be liable | Sun 6 Dec 2026, and only if a valid Notice to Keeper was given on Sun 8 Nov 2026 |