If you do not pay a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) within 28 days (of receiving it) we will send the registered owner of the vehicle a 'Notice to Owner' letter asking for full payment. The registered owner will have the option to either pay the full penalty of £70/£50 or to make a formal statutory challenge to the Council.

• If the challenge is successful, the Council will cancel PCN.

If the Council rejects the challenge and registered vehicle owner still wishes to dispute the PCN you can appeal (see below) to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. Find out more from http://www.parking-appeals.gov.uk/. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal operates independently of councils and motorists.

If the independent adjudicator rejects the registered owner's appeal or if the registered owner neither makes an appeal nor pays the penalty of £70/£50 within the specified time, the sum due will increase, and will ultimately be recovered through the County Court, including the use of enforcement agents (bailiffs) when necessary.

Grounds for appeal

If your challenge to the council is unsuccesful you will be sent with your letter of rejection a Traffic Penalty Tribunal “Notice of Appeal” form. If you wish to appeal the rejection decision you must use this form to make your appeal within 28 days.

You need to decide which of the legal grounds of appeal applies in your case these are listed on the Notice of Appeal and are as follows:

• The contravention (offence) did not occur.
• The penalty exceeded the relevant amount.
• The Traffic Regulation Order was invalid, see Traffic Orders
• I was not the owner of the vehicle when the alleged contravention occurred.
• The vehicle was taken without my consent (e.g. stolen) at the time the alleged contravention occurred.
• We are a hire company and have supplied the hirer’s name and address.

There are no grounds for making an appeal where the recipient acknowledges that a contravention occurred but argues that there were extenuating circumstances. However, the Council will consider such cases on their merits. The need to show flexibility in dealing with exceptional cases will be balanced against the need to enforce parking controls firmly in the wider public interest.

Details of where to send the Notice of Appeal will be included in the form. For further information see the NPAS website http://www.parking-appeals.gov.uk/