Notice to Driver

The Notice to Driver is the ticket attached to the car by a private parking company when a parking incident has allegedly taken place. The Notice to Driver (NTD) will typically indicate why it has been issued, by whom, and the amount they are requesting to settle the charge. The Notice to Driver is used in cases where the parking company employs attendants to monitor the car park. Irrespective of whether one decides to pay the charge or not, the Notice to Driver should be retained since it may later be relied on as evidence.

If you receive a Notice to Driver and you do not want to pay it, you should acquaint yourself with private parking tickets and our fightback guide before making any response to it. There are two main reasons for this:

  • You may inadvertently identify the driver of the vehicle; just by issuing the NTD, the parking company do not know the identify of the driver so they will not immediately know who to pursue
  • If the parking company is not a member of an accredited trade association (e.g. BPA or IPC) then they would not be able to request keeper data from the DVLA, so would have no means of identifying someone to pursue

If the charge is not settled, the parking company will apply to the DVLA for the keeper’s details, and send a Notice to Keeper. The Protection of Freedoms Act introduced the concept of keeper liability, which allows the parking charge to be recovered from the keeper of the vehicle if it remains unpaid. However, in order to enforce keeper liability, the Notice to Driver contain the following:

  • Which car the ticket relates to
  • What land the car was parked on
  • The period the car was parked
  • When and how the parking rules were broken
  • What the parking charges are for the infringement of the rules, and of the maximum additional costs they may seek to recover,  and the date by which those parking charges should be paid
  • Any discounts for paying within 14 days – which should be at least 40% of the full charge under the British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice (applies to BPA Members only)
  • How to pay and to whom (this must be the person legally entitled to the money – the “Creditor”)
  • The date the time the notice was issued
  • How appeals and complaints can be dealt with – for parking companies who are members of the BPA.

If the Notice to Driver does not comply with the conditions in the Protection of Freedoms Act, then the parking company would not be able to enforce keeper liability using the Protection of Freedoms Act. This is discussed in detail on our Keeper Liability page. However, this does not mean that the charge is not enforceable, it just means they cannot use the Protection of Freedoms Act to establish keeper liability. Conversely, just because the parking company has met the conditions, it does not mean it is enforceable either, it is just one of may factors.

If you have received a Notice to Driver, then you should start by reading our private parking tickets guide.

We’ve also created a specific guide to fighting windscreen parking tickets – including a clever trick that often results in tickets getting cancelled!