If a parking company cannot prove who was driving, it usually goes after the registered keeper instead. That power is not automatic. It comes from Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, and it only works on land the Act calls relevant land.
Land where parking is controlled by byelaws is not relevant land. Airports, ports and, until recently, railway stations. On that land the operator can pursue the driver, but not the keeper who refuses to name them.
On 26 December 2025 that stopped being true at National Rail station car parks in England and Wales.
The threshold question most people never reach
Almost every guide to parking charges starts in the same place: were the signs clear, did the Notice to Keeper arrive in time, does it say what the law requires.
Those are good questions. But there is one that comes before all of them, and it decides whether the rest of Schedule 4 applies at all.
Is this relevant land?
Paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 says relevant land is any land except a public highway, a parking place controlled by a traffic authority, and land where the parking of a vehicle is subject to statutory control. Parking is subject to statutory control where a statutory provision imposes a liability, criminal or civil, in the form of a fee, charge or penalty of any kind, in respect of parking on that land. And byelaws count as a statutory provision.
So byelaw land sits outside keeper liability. Not because of a loophole, but because Parliament drew the boundary there in 2012.
What the two Orders did
Both came into force on 26 December 2025. They work from opposite ends of the same test.
The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Definition of Relevant Land) (Amendment) Order 2025 (SI 2025/1256) added words to paragraph 3(4) of Schedule 4 excluding the national railway byelaws, those made under section 219 of the Transport Act 2000 by the Strategic Rail Authority, from counting as a statutory provision at all. Take the byelaws out of the definition and the land stops being under statutory control, which makes it relevant land, which switches keeper liability back on.
The Railway Byelaws Amendment Order 2025 (SI 2025/1258) then went after the byelaw itself. It replaced railway byelaw 14 with byelaw 14A for England and Wales and byelaw 14B for Scotland. Byelaw 14A has no parking charge provision. The old rule making it an offence to park where charges are made without paying is gone in England and Wales. A separate article replaced the word “penalty” with “fine” throughout, which its explanatory note says was done to make clear the reference is to a criminal rather than a contractual penalty.
Read against the statutory test, the two Orders between them address every limb of it.
| What paragraph 3(3) asks | What changed |
|---|---|
| Is there a “statutory provision”? | SI 2025/1256 removed the railway byelaws from the definition |
| Does it impose a liability in respect of parking? | SI 2025/1258 removed the parking charge provision for England and Wales |
| Is it a “penalty of any kind”? | “Penalty” was replaced with “fine” throughout |
| What about contractual car parking? | New byelaw 14A states the byelaws do not impose liability for it |
You do not legislate four times over against an argument that was failing.
Where each network now stands
The carve-out is narrow, and it is closed. It names one thing: byelaws made under section 219 of the Transport Act 2000 by the Strategic Rail Authority. Section 219 was itself repealed in 2005, so no new byelaws can ever join that set. Everything else is untouched.
| Network | Byelaws made under | Position now |
|---|---|---|
| National Rail station car parks (England and Wales) | Railway Byelaws 2005, made by the Strategic Rail Authority | Changed on 26 December 2025. Keeper liability now applies. |
| London Underground, Overground, DLR, Elizabeth line | TfL Railway Byelaws, Greater London Authority Act 1999 | Unchanged. Neither Order touches these byelaws. |
| Croydon Tramlink | Tramlink Byelaws, Croydon Tramlink Act 1994 | Unchanged. |
| Tyne and Wear Metro | Metro Byelaws, Tyneside Metropolitan Railway Act 1973 | Unchanged. |
| Nottingham Express Transit | NET Byelaws 2014, NET System Order 2009 | Unchanged. |
| National Rail station car parks in Scotland | Railway Byelaws 2005, byelaw 14B | Unchanged, and note the keeper liability rules do not extend to Scotland in any event. |
Tube, tram and Metro car parks are a different question
Each of the other networks makes its byelaws under its own legislation, none of which is section 219 of the Transport Act 2000. The Transport for London Railway Byelaws are made under the Greater London Authority Act 1999. Croydon Tramlink's are made under the Croydon Tramlink Act 1994. The Tyne and Wear Metro Byelaws are made under the Tyneside Metropolitan Railway Act 1973. The Nottingham Express Transit Byelaws 2014 are made under the Order that authorised the tramway.
All four contain a parking byelaw of the older type: it is a breach to park where charges are made by the operator without paying the appropriate charge, the owner can be made liable for clamping and removal costs, and a breach is an offence carrying a fine on the standard scale. That is a liability, criminal and civil, in respect of parking on that land, which is what paragraph 3(3) asks for.
Neither December 2025 Order touches any of them.
Charged at a Tube, tram or Metro car park?
The letter sets out the byelaws by number for your network, answers both December 2025 Orders before the operator raises them, and puts the operator to proof on contract and landowner authority.
What this does not do
Two honest limits, because a letter built on a misunderstanding of either will fail.
It defeats keeper liability, not the charge itself. If the operator can identify the driver, it can pursue the driver in contract. What the byelaw point stops is the operator turning a charge against an unknown driver into a charge against you because your name is on the V5C.
It only works if the land is genuinely that network's land. Plenty of car parks sit next to a station without belonging to the transport operator. Some are council car parks, which are a different system with different rules. Some belong to a developer or a retail park. Check the site before relying on it, and photograph the byelaws if they are displayed.
What to do if you have been charged
- Identify the network. National Rail, or Tube, Overground, DLR, Elizabeth line, tram or Metro. This is the question that decides everything else.
- Check the date. Parking events before 26 December 2025 are governed by the law as it stood then.
- Photograph the site. Displayed byelaws, entrance signs, the terms board, and anything naming the transport authority.
- Do not name the driver. There is no obligation in civil law to tell a private parking company who was driving, and section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which does create that duty for certain road traffic offences, does not apply to private charges.
- Do not pay the discounted amount while you are deciding. Paying ends your right to challenge.
The byelaw argument is unusual in that it turns on which Act a set of byelaws was made under, and on wording that most operators' appeals teams will not have read. That cuts both ways. Cited precisely, with the byelaw numbers and the enabling Act, it is difficult to brush off. Asserted loosely, as “this is byelaw land”, it invites a one line rejection.
The letter for this
Tube, Tram and Metro Station Car Parks. No Keeper Liability
Written for this specific ground, with the law cited and the evidence demands built in. Complete the placeholders and send it.
Included free with the letter
- Your Charge Was Issued on Byelaw Land
Frequently asked questions
What actually changed on 26 December 2025?
Two statutory instruments came into force on the same day. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Definition of Relevant Land) (Amendment) Order 2025 (SI 2025/1256) removed the national railway byelaws from the definition of land that sits outside the keeper liability rules. The Railway Byelaws Amendment Order 2025 (SI 2025/1258) then rewrote the railway parking byelaw itself for England and Wales, removing the provision that made it an offence to park without paying and stating that the byelaws do not impose liability for station car parking under a contractual arrangement. Together they close a defence that had been available to registered keepers at National Rail station car parks.
What is "relevant land" and why does it matter so much?
Keeper liability, the rule that lets a parking company pursue the registered keeper when it does not know who was driving, only exists on what the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 calls relevant land. Paragraph 3 of Schedule 4 excludes land where parking is subject to statutory control, which includes land regulated by byelaws. If the land is excluded, the operator cannot transfer the charge from the driver to the keeper. It is a threshold question: it comes before any argument about signage or notice deadlines, because if the Act does not apply to the land, that part of the Act never gets going.
Does this mean I have to pay a National Rail station car park charge now?
No. It means one specific argument, that the operator cannot pursue you as the registered keeper because the land is byelaw land, is no longer available at those car parks in England and Wales. Every other ground still stands: whether the signs were adequate to form a contract, whether the Notice to Keeper arrived within the statutory window and contained what the law requires, whether the operator has authority from the landowner, and whether the charge is a fair term. Those are the grounds that decide most private parking cases anyway.
Why did Scotland keep the old rule?
The amending Order split the railway parking byelaw in two. Byelaw 14A applies in England and Wales and has no parking charge provision. Byelaw 14B applies in Scotland and keeps the old wording, including the provision about parking where charges are made without paying. The Protection of Freedoms Act keeper liability scheme extends to England and Wales only, so the interaction the England and Wales change addresses does not arise in Scotland in the same way.
How do I know whether my car park is Tube, tram or Metro land rather than National Rail?
Start with the station. If it is a National Rail station, the national railway byelaws are the likely starting point. If it is an Underground, Overground, DLR, Elizabeth line, Tramlink, Tyne and Wear Metro or Nottingham tram stop, a different set of byelaws applies. Then check the site itself: byelaw land usually has byelaws displayed, and signs often name the transport authority. Photograph what you find. Some car parks next to a station are not transport land at all and belong to a council or a private developer, and that changes the answer again.
Is the December 2025 change retrospective?
The Orders came into force on 26 December 2025 and there is nothing in either of them applying the changes to earlier events. As a general principle, a change of this kind speaks from the date it comes into force. If your parking event was before that date, the position at the time is what matters, and it is worth taking that point specifically rather than assuming either way.
Was there an explanation of why the change was made?
Not really. SI 2025/1256 has no explanatory memorandum. SI 2025/1258 carries a short explanatory note which says byelaw 14A "clarifies that these Byelaws do not impose liability for station car parking which are subject to a contractual arrangement", and that a separate change replacing the word "penalty" with "fine" was made "to make it clear that this refers to a criminal, not a contractual penalty". Neither instrument was subject to Parliamentary procedure and no impact assessment was produced.
Sources
- Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Schedule 4, paragraph 3
- The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Definition of Relevant Land) (Amendment) Order 2025, SI 2025/1256
- The Railway Byelaws Amendment Order 2025, SI 2025/1258, and its explanatory note
- Transport Act 2000, section 219 (repealed 2005); Railways Act 2005, sections 46 and 46(4)
- Transport for London Railway Byelaws (Greater London Authority Act 1999, Schedule 11, paragraph 26)
- Croydon Tramlink Byelaws (Croydon Tramlink Act 1994, section 46)
- Metro Byelaws (Tyneside Metropolitan Railway Act 1973, sections 58 and 62)
- Nottingham Express Transit Byelaws 2014 (Nottingham Express Transit System Order 2009, article 53)
This guide explains the law in England and Wales as it stands on 9 August 2026. It is general information, not legal advice about your particular charge.