Under the law governing civil traffic enforcement, the person liable to pay any Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) issued in respect of a vehicle contravening traffic regulations is its owner. This is presumed to be the Registered Keeper of the vehicle, unless proven otherwise.

The Registered Keeper – according to details registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) – may not necessarily have been the driver at the time of the alleged contravention, but they are legally liable for the penalty charge. The fact that another person was driving the vehicle does not affect the Registered Keeper’s liability for any PCN.

A local authority or charging authority will check the Registered Keeper details of a vehicle at the DVLA* as part of the process before issuing a PCN (unless the PCN is fixed to the windscreen of the vehicle or handed to the driver, in the case of Parking PCNs.

All documents further to the PCN during the enforcement process will then be issued to the Registered Keeper of the vehicle.

* The law requires that the DVLA is kept informed about the current Registered Keeper. If a motorist sells a vehicle and fails to complete the relevant part of the vehicle registration document (V5C / ‘log book’), they may receive enforcement documents relating to a PCN that are meant for the previous keeper.