The ticket will show the alleged contravention, plus the date, time and location. If you feel it was wrongly issued, or that there are special circumstances in your case, you should write to the council. They may cancel the ticket, or turn down your case and inform you about your rights to take the matter further. If you write to the council promptly they will usually give you another opportunity to pay at the reduced rate even if they turn down your case.

If you wish to preserve your right to appeal against the ticket you should not pay the penalty. Paying a PCN will usually result in the case being closed. If you are not the registered keeper of the vehicle, let the keeper know they should expect a ‘Notice to Owner’ demanding payment of the penalty. Ask them not to pay when they recieve the ‘Notice to Owner’ but to make ‘Representations’ instead.

Notice to owner

If a parking ticket isn’t paid within 28 days a ‘Notice to Owner’ is sent to the keeper registered at DVLA (regardless of who was driving). It should normally be served within 6 months of the ticket. The ‘Notice to Owner’ provides you with an opportunity to either pay the outstanding penalty or make formal ‘representations‘. The penalty needs to be paid or representations made within 28 days. If you do not make representations within 28 days the council can disregrard them. Do not hand the Notice to Owner to the driver – if the driver does not pay the PCN, you could be liable for an increased charge and lose the opportunity to appeal.

If you make a case under one of the statutory grounds (see page 9) the council should cancel the ‘Notice to Owner’. If none of the statutory grounds apply to your case you can still make representations to the council and ask them to take other circumstances into account. The council is not obliged to waive the penalty, but they may do so in exceptional circumstances.

The Road Traffic Act makes the owner, not the driver, liable for most parking penalties.

Representations

Having considered your Representation the council will send you a ‘Notice of Acceptance of Representations’ if they agree you should not pay the penalty. The council will send you a ‘Notice of Rejection of Representations’ if they feel you should pay.

If you receive a ‘Notice of Rejection of Representations’ you must either pay the penalty or appeal to an independent Parking Adjudicator within 28 days using the appeal form provided with the Notice of Rejection. See below for how to appeal.


Statutory Grounds to Challenge a PCN or NtO

The contravention did not occur
For example : the contravention (as described on the ticket) did not happen; the parking restriction was not properly signed ; the reason for stopping was lawful in the circumstances (eg vehicle broken down or stopped briefly to pick up passengers). If you can you should submit evidence to support your claim (eg. if claiming you stopped to unload goods, send a copy of any delivery note).