Owner Liability
Under the Road Traffic Act 1991, the owner of a vehicle is liable for the penalty charge when a Penalty Charge Notice is issued to a vehicle.
The owner may or may not be the person who was actually driving at the time. If, for example, your partner, family member or colleague is driving the vehicle, this does not mean that you have stopped being the owner.
The Act says the owner is presumed to be the registered keeper. The local authority will usually check with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority in Swansea to see who was registered as keeper of the vehicle at the date the Penalty Charge Notice was issued. This person will receive the Notice to Owner.
The law requires that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority is kept informed about the current keeper. If you sell a vehicle and fail to complete the relevant part of the vehicle registration document (‘log book’) you may receive Notices to Owner arising out of actions from the new owner. In this case, you will have to produce evidence to show the precise date that you sold the vehicle. This may be an invoice or receipt (for example from a motor dealer) and a letter from your insurers setting out when you transferred cover from the vehicle. This would also apply if you said that you actually bought the vehicle after the date the Penalty Charge Notice was issued.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency register the keeper of the vehicle. This is usually the same as the owner. However, in the case of company vehicles which are used by one person (not pool or fleet cars), it is sometimes the company and other times the employee who is registered at Swansea. An employee who has a vehicle for two or three years is probably the keeper. The Road Traffic Act 1991 also says that the owner of a vehicle shall be taken to be the person by whom the vehicle is kept. This might also apply in the case of vehicles on long-term lease but see the note on hired vehicles below.
However, ‘keeper’ does not include someone who borrows a vehicle, perhaps while the owner is on holiday. Even if someone is using the vehicle for a long period, for example, a student taking the family car away to college, they do not become the “keeper”; the person whose name is registered at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is still liable for the penalty charges. From time to time, people leave their vehicles with a garage for repairs, perhaps for a few days or even weeks. The vehicle could be issued with a Penalty Charge Notice during that time, for example if the mechanic left it on a yellow line when carrying out a road test. The law says that, in such cases, it is still the owner who is liable for the penalty charge. Of course, this does not affect any rights that you may have to recover the money from the person responsible.
There are special rules about hire vehicles. If you hire a vehicle, you will be asked to sign (usually as part of the booking form/contract) a statement of liability for penalty charges. In this case, you will be liable for any Penalty Charge Notices issued to the vehicle whilst it was on hire to you although you were not the owner.
If you receive a Notice to Owner about a vehicle you did not own when the Penalty Charge Notice was issued, you must return the representations form explaining the situation. You should give the name and address of the person who you sold the car to, or bought it from, and if possible, enclose a copy of the receipt for the transaction. You must do this even if you have returned a previous representation form about another Penalty Charge Notice.
