Key dates under PoFA Schedule 4 for a private parking charge
Updated 12 October 2026
Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA) lets a parking company recover an unpaid charge from the registered keeper when it does not know who was driving. It can only use that right if its notices meet the conditions in the Schedule, including dates.
If no notice was put on the car (camera or ANPR)
Paragraph 9 applies. The notice to keeper must be given within the relevant period: 14 days beginning with the day after the parking period ended.
A notice sent by post is presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been given on the second working day after the day it was posted. So the posting date printed on the notice matters as much as the issue date.
If a notice was put on the car first
Paragraph 8 applies. The keeper notice cannot be sent straight away. It must be given in the period of 28 days that follows the first 28 days beginning with the day after the notice to driver was given. In practice that is a window from about day 29 to day 56.
The 28-day warning on the notice
Both paragraphs require the notice to warn the keeper that if, after 28 days beginning with the day after the notice is given, the charge is unpaid and the company still does not know the driver's name and address, it may have the right to recover the charge from the keeper. Paragraph 4(4) adds that this right can only be used after that 28-day period.
What a missed date means
If a keeper notice misses a Schedule 4 date, the company may not be able to rely on Schedule 4 to hold the keeper liable. It can still pursue the driver, and it may argue other points. A late notice is not automatically void. Whether a date point is available depends on the dates on the notice and how they are counted.
Count carefully: periods that begin with the day after an event, working days for posted notices, and the parking date as shown on the photographs. If any date is unclear, write it down and check it against the notice before relying on it.
This guide is general information about private parking charges in England and Wales. It is not legal advice. The dates and wording on your own notice control, and every point is fact-dependent.