Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello to all,

Quick overview of my situation :

In February I received a PCN for parking in a suspended bay in Chichester.

The first I knew of it was an email from the car rental company (Enterprise) in March, informing me they had received a notice to owner and would be naming me as the hirer.

Fast forward to yesterday, and I get another email from Enterprise stating that Chichester Council "refused to transfer liability to me" and had issued a charge certificate, which Enterprise had since paid.

I would add that I live in France.

Presumably, this extinguishes all possibility of my appealing the ticket? As far as I can see, it does, but Enterprise state:

Should you wish to appeal, you will still have the opportunity to do so, however please let us know so that a letter of authority can be issued to you providing our permission to liaise with the issuing authority whilst the fine remains in our name.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks for your reply.

It was a car rented from the UK.

My French address was on the hire contract (I don't have any other address).

What I don't understand, is on what grounds the Council would refuse to recognise me as the hirer, given my address was provided and it is one of the statutory grounds for making representations?

Enterprise should has gone to the Tribunal stating there is a statutory ground to transfer the liability to you, they may get costs awarded in their favour as the Council may be wholly unreasonable.

However it is not your problem as you cannot make representations if it is not in your name, Council will not accept your representation unless it is in your name due to GDPR.

Timeline :

6/2/25 Date of alleged Offence
12/3/25 NTO sent to Enterprise
22/5/25 : Email received saying "enforcement notice received" and payment made

I was first notified just after they received the notice to owner (see photo) where they clearly state "Enterprise will not pay this charge".

I subsequently received a further email yesterday where I was informed that they had paid it.

On querying why it had been paid, they stated they had received an "enforcement notice" which I assume was the Charge Certificate (see email response).

What seems nonsensical to me is that despite them having paid, they still state I can appeal (which is not the case, as I understand it).

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Yes apologies for my mixing up of terminology, there is no reference to a charge notice, only a NTO dated 12 March (I have a copy) and an "enforcement notice" (referenced in correspondence but not yet seen).

However, when I try to login to the Chichester Council website, I get a message saying "it appears a charge certificate has been issued".

If there was a physical PCN on the vehicle I have no recollection of seeing one, the first I heard was the email from Enterprise after the NTO arrived.

They have invoiced me a £35 admin fee, and now invoiced me £70 for the parking fine.

They will be unable to take payment for either as the rental was through a corporate account (no credit card provided), so will be interesting to see how far they want to press the issue.

My company (of which I am the President) has an account with Enterprise.

We book the cars for our staff, the staff collect the cars, and we get an invoice on return.

The rental agreement is always with the renter in their personal capacity.

Billing of the rental + any unpaid extras (one way fees, fuel, etc) are invoiced to us at the end of the rental. They don't give a credit card and we stand as garantor for the damage excess.

However, any offences (speeding, parking...) plus admin fees are passed directly on to the driver, our company has no involvement with them at all. Payment is between the driver and Enterprise directly.

I don't object to them levying an admin fee (it was in the contract). What I do object to is their confusing procedure, whereby they say :

1) Here's a parking fine. We won't pay it, and will pass the details on to the council. You'll be able to appeal once they contact you.

Then a couple of weeks later....

2) Actually, it's too much effort to insist you were the hirer, so we'll just pay it, and sod your right of appeal.

The "hirer" as far as Enterprise are concerned is absolutely the driver in their individual capacity: they sign the contract and their details are on the system. Our company is simply a source of funding for the rental.

When a staff member is caught speeding or committing any other offence, we (the company) receive no notification at all: Enterprise contact them directly.

Given we are a French company, this may be different to how it works in the UK. 90% of our rentals are in France and Belgium, and where I have incurred a fine (parking or speeding) it has always been redirected to me personally as the renter.

All of the invoices received from Enterprise thus far have also been addressed to me personally, at my personal address (no mention of the company).

I have requested copies of the notice of rejection from Enterprise, but they are closed on weekends so hopefull they will reply on Monday.