Transfer of Liability or "TOL" refers to a process where the registered keeper of a vehicle can transfer the responsibility for a Penalty Charge Notice to the person who was driving the vehicle at the time of the contravention. This only applies in the following cases:

Hire or lease: when the vehicle was hired or leased by a company registered as a vehicle-hire firm at the time of the contravention, the hire firm can transfer liability to the hirer or lessee. The firm must by law provide evidence that they are a vehicle-hire firm and that the person hiring the vehicle had signed a statement acknowledging liability in respect of any Penalty Charge Notice during the period of the hiring agreement; this is usually done by providing a copy of the hiring agreement.

It is important to note that, by law, TOL does not apply for Bus Lane contraventions in cases where the vehicle hire agreement is less than six months. In these cases, the vehicle-hire firm remains liable for the PCN.

Purchase or disposal: if the vehicle was purchased after the time of the contravention, or was sold or otherwise disposed of before the time of the contravention, the registered keeper can transfer liability to the buyer or seller, depending on their role. The registered keeper must provide evidence of the purchase, sale or disposal, and must provide the name of the person who bought it, sold it or disposed of it.

The option to transfer liability for the Penalty Charge Notice is not universally applicable throughout all stages of the PCN life cycle. By law, you are only able to use this process at the following stages:

For Parking PCNs issued to the vehicle or driver at the location of the contravention, at the Notice to Owner stage.
For Bus Lane PCNs, at the Enforcement Notice stage.
For Parking PCNs issued by post and for Moving Traffic contraventions, at the PCN stage.

You can find more information about types and stages of a PCN by visiting our PCN guide.

Frequently asked questions