PCNs and fines on hire cars: transferring liability to the hirer

Every penalty notice for a hire car is addressed to the registered keeper, which is you. Whether it stays with you depends on what your hire agreement said and whether you answer the notice the right way inside its deadline. Each kind of notice has its own route, documents and clock. This guide sets them out for England, then the other nations. It is general information, not legal advice. Where a point is not settled by a primary source, the guide says so and names who to confirm it with: your legal adviser, your council or the authority that issued the notice.

1. Why it lands on you, and the routes out

Councils, car park operators, the police and charging authorities all start from the keeper. The law gives a vehicle-hire firm a way to pass most notices on, and almost every route rests on the same foundation: a hiring agreement that contains the right particulars and a statement of liability signed by the hirer. How to build that into the agreement is covered in the car hire agreement. This guide is about using it.

The common thread is speed: every route depends on finding who had the car that day, inside the notice's own window.

2. Council PCNs in England: parking, bus lanes, moving traffic

In England, the right to challenge a council penalty charge is in the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2022. They cover parking contraventions in and outside Greater London, and bus lane and moving traffic contraventions outside Greater London (2022 Regulations, explanatory note). One of the grounds for a representation is that the recipient is a vehicle-hire firm, the vehicle was hired under a hiring agreement at the time, and the hirer had signed a statement of liability for any penalty charge notice during the hire. A firm relying on that ground must state the name and address of the person the vehicle was hired to (2022 Regulations, regulation 5). "Hiring agreement" takes its meaning from section 66 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, so the same prescribed particulars apply.

The notice itself must tell you that representations made outside 28 days beginning with the date it is served may be disregarded (2022 Regulations, regulation 3). A notice to owner can be served up to six months after the relevant date (Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022, regulation 20), so agreement records must stay findable long after the car is back.

The regulation sets the ground, not the attachments. Send whatever the notice or the council's challenge process asks for, which may include the agreement and the signed statement, and keep proof of when you sent it. For bus lane and moving traffic PCNs inside London, which sit outside these regulations, follow the grounds printed on the notice and confirm the hire-firm procedure with the issuing borough or TfL.

3. Private parking charges

Private car park charges are not council penalties. Keeper liability for them comes from Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, which extends to England and Wales only (Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4).

Paragraph 13 is the hire-vehicle provision. The creditor cannot recover from a hire firm that, within 28 days beginning with the day after the notice to keeper was given, provides a statement signed by or on behalf of the firm that the vehicle was hired at the time, a copy of the hire agreement, and a copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer. That statement must acknowledge that the hirer is responsible for any parking charges incurred while the vehicle is hired to them, and give an address where documents can be delivered (Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, paragraph 13). The creditor then has 21 days, beginning with the day after it receives the documents, to give a notice to the hirer (Schedule 4, paragraph 14).

The wording differs from the section 66 statement, so check your agreement covers "parking charges" as well as fixed penalty offences. And if you miss the 28 days, the statutory route closes; whether you can recover the charge from the hirer under your contract is a separate question for your legal adviser.

4. Speeding and police fixed penalties

Speeding works differently. Within 14 days of a car being caught speeding, a Notice of Intended Prosecution and a Section 172 notice are sent, and the Section 172 notice must be returned within 28 days saying who was driving; the minimum penalty is a £100 fine and 3 penalty points (GOV.UK: speeding penalties). Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires the person keeping the vehicle to give the information they are asked for about the identity of the driver, and failing to comply is an offence (Road Traffic Act 1988, section 172).

For a hire firm this is identification, not transfer: you name the hirer from the agreement. The offence of failing to respond is yours, so this notice must never sit in a pile.

Where a notice to owner for a fixed penalty offence is served instead, section 66 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 is the route. Within the period allowed for response, you provide a statement on an official form, a copy of the hiring agreement and a copy of the hirer's signed statement of liability; the agreement must be for a fixed period of less than six months; and you can be asked for the originals within six months of service (Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, section 66). The agreement must contain the prescribed particulars (Road Traffic (Owner Liability) Regulations 2000, Schedule 2).

5. ULEZ, Dart Charge and clean air zones

Road user charges involve two sums: the charge itself, with a payment deadline, and the penalty if it is missed.

ULEZ and London road user charging

A non-compliant vehicle in the ULEZ must have paid by midnight on the third day after travelling in the zone; otherwise the penalty for a car or van is £180, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days (TfL: penalty charges for ULEZ). The London regulations allow a representation that the recipient is a vehicle-hire firm and the hirer had signed a statement of liability for any penalty charge during the hire, and representations received after 28 days from service may be disregarded (Road User Charging (Enforcement and Adjudication) (London) Regulations 2001, regulation 13). TfL requires a hire of less than six months, a signed statement of liability and the section 66 and Schedule 2 particulars, and says a director who is the registered keeper cannot transfer liability from themselves using a company hire agreement (TfL: challenge a penalty charge notice).

Dart Charge

The Dart Charge must be paid by midnight the day after crossing (GOV.UK: Dart Charge). The penalty is £70, reduced to £35 within 14 days and increased to £105 if unpaid, on top of the crossing charge (GOV.UK: Dart Charge fines). The Dart Charge PCN takes its grounds from the Road User Charging Schemes (Penalty Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 (GOV.UK: example Dart Charge PCN). Regulation 6 lists the transfer documents: a signed statement that the vehicle was hired to a named person, the hire agreement or relevant extracts, and the hirer's signed statement of liability with an address for documents (2013 Regulations, regulation 6). The representation must give the hirer's name and address, and may be disregarded after 28 days from service (2013 Regulations, regulation 8).

Clean air zones

Clean air zones operate in Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Tyneside. Only class D zones (Birmingham and Bristol) charge cars; vans are charged in class C and D zones. The charge must be paid by 11:59pm on the sixth day after entering the zone (GOV.UK: driving in a clean air zone). The grounds for challenging a clean air zone PCN are printed on the notice; confirm the hire-firm procedure with the council that runs the zone.

6. Admin fees: when a fee is defensible

For consumer hires, a fee for handling a notice is a term like any other. The CMA's guidance says an administration fee charged during a contract, where no service is provided to the consumer in exchange, is unlikely to fall within the exemption that protects the price from a fairness assessment (CMA37, paragraph 5.10). The Consumer Rights Act then lists as potentially unfair a term requiring a consumer in breach to pay a disproportionately high sum (Consumer Rights Act 2015, Schedule 2, paragraph 6), and the CMA warns against fixed arbitrary sums and double recovery, and says sanctions are more likely to be fair when the sum is objectively proportionate, clear and upfront, and easy to avoid (CMA37, paragraphs 6.63 and 6.65).

A fee is more defensible when it is a stated amount in pounds, reflects the real cost of processing a notice, and does not recover the same cost twice. Whether your figure meets that test is for your legal adviser. Glovebox lets you add a post-hire charge to a booking for the customer to pay online; it does not deal with issuing authorities or transfer liability for you. See the UK features.

7. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

• Wales. Council penalties run under Welsh regulations that include a vehicle-hire firm ground on the same pattern as England (Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2013, regulation 4). Private parking keeper liability under the Protection of Freedoms Act applies in Wales.
• Scotland. Schedule 6 to the Road Traffic Act 1991 was repealed for England and Wales but not for Scotland, and as enacted it includes a vehicle-hire firm ground for parking representations (Road Traffic Act 1991, Schedule 6, as enacted); confirm the current wording and procedure with the issuing council. Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act does not extend to Scotland, so confirm with your legal adviser how a private parking charge there is pursued. For Scottish low emission zones, where the keeper is a vehicle-hire firm and the vehicle was hired under an agreement containing the section 66 particulars, the penalty is payable by the hirer (Low Emission Zones (Emission Standards, Exemptions and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, regulation 5).
• Northern Ireland. A parking PCN is £90, or £45 if paid within 14 days (nidirect: parking tickets). The Traffic Management (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 includes a ground that the recipient is a vehicle-hire firm and the hirer had signed a statement of liability (Traffic Management (Northern Ireland) Order 2005, article 9). Section 66 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 extends to England, Wales and Scotland only, so confirm the route for police fixed penalties in Northern Ireland with your legal adviser.

For the rest of what differs in Northern Ireland, see the start-up guide's Northern Ireland section.

The checklist

1. Make sure the agreement's statement of liability covers fixed penalty offences, penalty charges and parking charges, and gives an address for documents.
2. Capture every Schedule 2 particular, including substitute vehicles and the actual return time.
3. Log every notice the day it arrives, with its date of service and deadline.
4. Answer section 172 notices first: the offence for not answering is yours.
5. For council and road user charging PCNs, use the hire-firm ground within 28 days, with the hirer's name and address.
6. For private parking charges, send the three documents within 28 days of the notice to keeper.
7. Decide whether you pay ULEZ, Dart Charge and clean air zone charges and recharge them, and say so in the agreement.
8. Set any admin fee as a stated, proportionate sum, and confirm it with your legal adviser.

Straight answers