The appellant does not dispute the circumstances of the PCN being issued but states by letter that the vehicle was hired under a hire agreement. Roads Service responded by letter stating that the appellant had failed to provide the statement of liability or hire agreement signed by the hirer. This information is required by Article 10(4) of The Traffic Management (NI) Order 2005 (“The 2005 Order”) if the ground of appeal under Article 9(2) (d) is to be relied on, namely that the vehicle was hired under a hire agreement. 

Article 2 of The 2005 Order states that “hire agreement” is as defined in Article 71(8) of the Road Traffic Offenders (NI) Order 1996 which refers only to agreements as may be prescribed and the fact that the hirer is a vehicle-hire firm. 

No statement of liability or hire agreement was provided by the hirer and therefore a formal notice of rejection was issued by Roads Service. By notice of appeal the appellant re-iterated that the vehicle was hired to the named individual but again failed to provide a copy of the hire agreement or statement of liability. As the appellant has not responded it is not possible to ascertain the type of hiring agreement and as no statement of liability has been forwarded it is not possible to establish if the person named as having hired the vehicle has accepted responsibility for PCN’s being issued.  

Whilst the hire agreement started prior to the commencement of the 2005 Order which came into force on 30th October 2006 by virtue of Article 2 of The Traffic Management (205 Order) (Commencement) Order (Northern Ireland) 2006 the need for a statement of liability in respect of parking offences relating to hired vehicles under the previous parking penalty system was also a requirement as set out in Article 71 of the Road Traffic Offenders (NI) Order 1996.  I also consider that as the 2005 Order was in place for nearly a year by the time of the offence that the appellant has had ample time to amend its hiring agreements with its customers.

As the appellant has failed to provide the necessary documentation to establish the ground under Article 9(2) (d) of the 2005 Order as required by Article 10(4) I have no alternative but to refuse the appeal.

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