02-19-2026, 12:12 PM
@merweetntr, first, establish the exact dates. What is the date on UKPC’s rejection email? The POPLA code is valid for 28 days from the date of issue, but in practice POPLA allows 33 days (28 days plus 5 days for service). If you are within 33 days of the rejection date, you can still submit a POPLA appeal. Check that immediately before assuming it is too late.
If the POPLA code has genuinely expired, then POPLA will not accept a late appeal. “It went to spam” will not revive the code. That does not mean you must now pay.
If no POPLA appeal is made, UKPC’s next step will be to pass the matter to debt collectors. Debt collectors have no powers. They cannot add enforceable sums. They cannot affect your credit file. They send letters designed to intimidate. Those letters can be ignored.
The only correspondence that matters after this stage would be:
– A Letter of Claim (LoC) or sometimes called a Letter Before Claim/Action) from solicitors.
– A formal County Court claim form from the Civil National Business Centre.
Until one of those arrives, there is no litigation.
However, whether you are in a strong defensive position depends entirely on the original Notice to Keeper (NtK). If UKPC failed to comply with Schedule 4 of PoFA, they cannot hold the Keeper liable. In that scenario, if the Driver is not identified, they would have to prove the Keeper was the Driver. That is impossible for them unless you, the Keeper, tell them.
If you have lost the original Notice, you can:
A SAR is free and must be responded to within one month.
Do not contact debt collectors. Do not admit who was driving. Do not panic about “credit rating” language — nothing affects credit unless a court judgment is entered and then left unpaid for more than one month.
Your immediate actions are:
– Confirm whether the 33-day POPLA window has in fact expired.
– Locate or obtain the original Notice to Keeper.
– Do nothing else until we can assess PoFA compliance.
Once we know whether keeper liability applies, we can determine whether this is something to defend robustly or something that carries greater risk.
If the POPLA code has genuinely expired, then POPLA will not accept a late appeal. “It went to spam” will not revive the code. That does not mean you must now pay.
If no POPLA appeal is made, UKPC’s next step will be to pass the matter to debt collectors. Debt collectors have no powers. They cannot add enforceable sums. They cannot affect your credit file. They send letters designed to intimidate. Those letters can be ignored.
The only correspondence that matters after this stage would be:
– A Letter of Claim (LoC) or sometimes called a Letter Before Claim/Action) from solicitors.
– A formal County Court claim form from the Civil National Business Centre.
Until one of those arrives, there is no litigation.
However, whether you are in a strong defensive position depends entirely on the original Notice to Keeper (NtK). If UKPC failed to comply with Schedule 4 of PoFA, they cannot hold the Keeper liable. In that scenario, if the Driver is not identified, they would have to prove the Keeper was the Driver. That is impossible for them unless you, the Keeper, tell them.
If you have lost the original Notice, you can:
- Log into UKPC’s online portal (if still accessible) and download copies.
- Write to UKPC requesting a copy of the original Notice to Keeper for your records.
- Submit a Subject Access Request (SAR) to UKPC requesting all personal data relating to you and the vehicle, including all notices and photographs.
A SAR is free and must be responded to within one month.
Do not contact debt collectors. Do not admit who was driving. Do not panic about “credit rating” language — nothing affects credit unless a court judgment is entered and then left unpaid for more than one month.
Your immediate actions are:
– Confirm whether the 33-day POPLA window has in fact expired.
– Locate or obtain the original Notice to Keeper.
– Do nothing else until we can assess PoFA compliance.
Once we know whether keeper liability applies, we can determine whether this is something to defend robustly or something that carries greater risk.
Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience. - Mark Twain
