Accommodation addresses for drivers

Sometimes a driver will receive a windscreen parking ticket, but would rather the registered keeper of the vehicle did not know. The driver, for instance may have been visiting a hospital, and is trying to keep details of an illness from a loved one who may be worried if they found out. They may have been a naughty boy or girl, and were dallying with someone they should not have been. Or they may simply want to appeal the parking charge but know that this causes distress to their partner.

For whatever reason, they can deal with all these situations by naming themselves as a driver and providing an accommodation address to the parking company.

The legislation specifically deals with this, and allows accommodation addresses to be used. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 schedule 4 states:

“current address for service” means [...] in the case of the driver, an address at which the driver for the time being resides or can conveniently be contacted

As long as the driver can conveniently be contacted at the accommodation address, then the conditions of the act are satisfied.

The driver can then deal with the parking appeal, secure in the knowledge that the registered keeper will not be contacted by the parking company. The parking company in these situations is only allowed to contact the DVLA after 28 days has elapsed, so to be doubly safe, the parking company should be contacted well before the 28 days are up, and a free proof of postage should be obtained.

If the parking company then contacts the DVLA to get keeper details, this is a breach of the Data Protection act. They should be reported to the Data Commissioner (http://ico.org.uk/concerns/handling), where they may be liable to heavy fines. They should also be reported to the DVLA (ccrt@dvla.gsi.gov.uk), as this is a breach of their KADOE contract, and can lead to suspension from access to the DVLA database.

An interesting side effect of using an accommodation address is that parking companies are statistically more likely to cancel the parking charge. The reason is not known, but it may be due to the higher cost in pursuing the driver.

One organisation who provides accommodation addresses is parkingticketappeals. Interested parties can find more details by contacting info@parkingticketappeals.org.uk

Happy Parking

The Parking Prankster