The Adjudication Process
You have a right to appeal to the independent Parking Adjudicator only if:
- Your parking ticket is called a “Penalty Charge Notice” and has been issued by a council enforcing parking under the Traffic Management Act 2004.
AND
- You have received a “Notice to Owner” form from the council claiming you are liable for payment of a “Penalty Charge Notice” or “PCN”.
AND
- You have challenged the Notice to Owner and you received a letter from the council saying that your representation had been rejected. This letter is known formally as a “Notice of Rejection of Representations”.
- If your vehicle was clamped or removed by the council, you may only appeal if you have first made formal representations against the council’s actions and have received their “Notice of Rejection of Representations”.
Stage 1 - Making an Appeal
- With their Notice of Rejection of Representations the council must send you an Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) “Notice of Appeal” form. You may either pay the charge or you must use this form to make your appeal within 28 days.
- You should decide which of the legal grounds of appeal applies in your case. These are listed on the Notice of Appeal and are the same as those listed on a Notice to Owner.
The legal grounds for appeal are as follows:
1. I was never the owner of the vehicle in question or
I had ceased to be its owner before the date on which the alleged contravention occurred or
I became its owner after the date on which the alleged contravention occurred
I had ceased to be its owner before the date on which the alleged contravention occurred or
I became its owner after the date on which the alleged contravention occurred
2. The vehicle had been permitted to remain at rest in the place in question by a person who was in control of the vehicle without the consent of the owner.
3. We are a vehicle-hire firm and the vehicle was on hire under a hiring agreement and the hirer had signed a statement acknowledging liability for any PCN issued during the hiring period.
4. The alleged contravention did not occur.
5. The penalty charge exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case.
6. There has been a procedural impropriety by the enforcement authority.
7. The Order which is alleged to have been contravened in relation to the vehicle concerned invalid.
8. This Notice should not have been served because the penalty charge had already been paid:
(i) in full; or
(ii) at the discounted rate set in accordance with Schedule 9 to the Traffic Management Act 2004 and within the time specified in paragraph 1(h) of the schedule to the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulation 2007.
(i) in full; or
(ii) at the discounted rate set in accordance with Schedule 9 to the Traffic Management Act 2004 and within the time specified in paragraph 1(h) of the schedule to the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulation 2007.
Stage 2 - The Appeals Process
When they receive a “Notice of Appeal”, TPT staff will make some basic checks and if everything is in order it will be registered as a formal appeal. After this, a number of things will happen:
- You will be sent formal acknowledgement that your appeal has been received and registered. If you have asked for a postal decision, you will be notified of the week in which your appeal is due to be decided.
- The council will be notified that an appeal has been lodged and will be given 21 days to submit their evidence to the Adjudicator. At the same time they must submit a copy of this evidence to you, as the appellant.
- If you have asked for a personal appeal, TPT staff will schedule it for the next appropriate hearing at the venue of your choice and will give you at least 21 days’ notice of the precise date, time and venue location.
Postal Hearings
As the term implies, in a postal appeal, the Adjudicator will consider the appeal based solely on the written evidence you and the council have supplied. A written decision will be sent to both parties, normally within a week of the case being decided.
Personal Hearings
Personal hearings normally last about 15 minutes and are held in premises independent of the local council. You may choose to have your personal appeal heard in any of the venues listed on the “Notice of Appeal” form, irrespective of where the PCN was issued.
Hearing venues are generally well known buildings in the community such as libraries, leisure centres or hotels. They generally have excellent access for people with disabilities although it is often helpful for an appellant to advise TPT staff in advance if special facilities or access is likely to be necessary.
In common with most other legal proceedings, parking appeals are open to the public and, in theory anyone may attend as an observer, although this is rare. The council may choose to send a representative although they may instead rely on their written submission alone.
Personal appeals are relatively informal in nature. Those attending are normally just the Adjudicator, the appellant and the council representative. You will have the opportunity to put your case to the Adjudicator and to answer any questions he or she puts to you. Although those attending are not required to give their evidence under oath, all parties are reminded of their duty to tell the truth at all times.
You may choose to bring a relative or supporter with you to a personal appeal. Witnesses may also attend. Due to the informality of the proceedings, legal representation is seldom necessary.
At the end of the hearing, the Adjudicator will almost always give his or her decision. This decision is confirmed in writing to you and the council, normally within seven days.
Stage 3 - After the Decision
After the Adjudicator has made his or her decision, confirmation will be sent to the appellant and the council. Normally, this letter will say one of two things:
- That the appeal is upheld and the appellant is not liable to pay the penalty charge.
OR
- That the appeal is refused and the appellant is liable to pay the penalty charge.
If the appeal was against the clamping or removal of a vehicle, a typical confirmation letter might say:
- That the appeal is upheld, in which case the council must refund any charges paid.
OR
- That the appeal is refused and that the council may retain the charges paid when the vehicle was released.
Stage 4 - What Happens Next?
If you win your appeal and your liability for the penalty charge is cancelled, this should be the end of the matter. If you have paid any money to the council, for example to reclaim your vehicle from the removal pound, the council must refund this “forthwith”. If you lose your appeal, you must pay the charge due to the council within 28 days of the Adjudicator’s written decision. If you fail to do so, the council will be entitled to continue enforcement proceedings against you. The full enforcement process is covered elsewhere on this website.
The Adjudicator has the power to consider an application for costs from either party. However, such instances are extremely rare and if costs are ever awarded, the sums involved are modest.
The grounds on which an Adjudicator’s decision may be challenged are limited. Simply feeling unhappy with the decision is not a ground for a challenge.
A review of the decision may be granted if, for example, it is believed that an Adjudicator may have wrongly interpreted or applied the law or if new evidence has come to light, the existence of which could not have been anticipated at the time of the original decision. Such instances are extremely rare and either party must apply for a review within 14 days of the Adjudicator’s decision.
The only other challenge to an Adjudicator’s decision would be by application for Judicial review in the High Court.
Stage 5 - Paying your Penalty Charge
- If you appeal to the Independent Parking Adjudicator but lose your appeal, you will have to pay the penalty charge within 28 days of the Adjudicator's written decision.
- If you don’t pay within 28 days of the Adjudicator's written decision the council may send you a document called a Charge Certificate” which will increase the penalty charge by a further 50%. You will have 14 days to pay this increased charge.
- If you don’t pay the increased amount within 14 days the council may apply to register the charge as a debt in the County Court, in which case further charges will apply. At this stage the council will send you two documents; a Notice of debt Registration and a Statutory Declaration form. You should complete the latter only if you can show that an earlier, critical stage in the enforcement process has been missed out.
- You should then send this form to the County Court. If the Court accepts the statutory declaration it will be forwarded to the council. What happens next depends on what ground you chose on the form.
- If you do not pay the amount due or make a successful statutory declaration, the council may apply to the County Court for a “Warrant of Execution”. This will normally be passed to certificated bailiffs who are entitled to recover the debt, plus their own charges, direct from you.
Page Last Updated: 1 April 2008
