POFA Deadline Calculator
Was your Notice to Keeper served in time? Enter two dates and find out. This applies the actual Schedule 4 rules - including deemed service and the 28-56 day window for windscreen tickets, which most online guides miss entirely.
Enter the parking date and at least one notice date to see your result.
How this calculation works
Posted on day 13, a notice is not given until the second working day after posting - day 15, and outside the window. This is where most operators fail.
A window, not a deadline. A notice given on day 20 is as defective as one given on day 60 - too early fails for the same reason too late does.
So you can check it, and so you can explain it to the operator in your own words if you would rather appeal yourself.
Step 1: which paragraph applies
If no ticket was placed on the vehicle, paragraph 8 of Schedule 4 applies and the Notice to Keeper must be given within 14 days beginning with the day after the parking event. If a ticket was placed on the vehicle, paragraph 9 applies instead, and the notice must be given between 28 and 56 days after it.
Step 2: when the notice counts as “given”
A notice sent by post is treated as given on the second working day after posting, not the day it was put in the postbox. This is where operators most often fail: posting on day 13 of a 14-day deadline produces deemed service on day 15 or later.
Step 3: counting the days
The 14-day and 28-56 day periods run in calendar days, weekends included. Only the two-day deemed-service step is counted in working days. This tool skips weekends in that step but does not know your bank holidays, so a result of exactly day 14 may in fact be late - a bank holiday in the gap pushes service past the deadline.
AppealPilot is not a law firm and this calculator is not legal advice. It is a guide to how the Schedule 4 time limits are generally applied.
Deadline calculator FAQ
Neither exactly. Schedule 4 treats a posted notice as given on the second working day after posting, so an operator who posts on day 13 has not met a 14-day deadline. This calculator applies that deemed-service rule to whichever date you provide.
The 14-day and 28-56 day periods are counted in calendar days, including weekends. The two-day deemed-service period is counted in working days, so weekends and bank holidays extend it. This calculator skips weekends but not bank holidays, which means a borderline result may actually be in your favour.
Enter the date it arrived instead. That is usually a day or two after deemed service, so the calculation is conservative - if it says the notice was late on the arrival date, it was certainly late.
It means the operator cannot lawfully hold you liable as the registered keeper. They would have to identify and pursue the actual driver, which they are rarely able to do. The charge is not automatically void, so the argument still has to be put to the operator properly - that is the service we provide.
Related parking appeal guides
Timing is one requirement of many. Check whether your notice contains the prescribed wording Schedule 4 demands.
The full plain-English guide to Schedule 4: keeper liability, relevant land, and why operators lose on technicalities.
Calculator says your notice was late? This is how we turn that finding into a submitted appeal for £10.
We build the argument properly and submit it for you. £10 flat, money back if a covered appeal is unsuccessful.