If you believe your PCN was wrongly issued and wish to challenge it you should:

• Withold payment of the charge
• Write or email (as soon as possible) to the local authority address details on the back of your PCN explaining why you feel it should not have been issued to you.
• You can find more information about challenging a PCN by visiting the relevant District Council's website. Some districts even offer the facility to challenge a PCN online.
• You cannot challenge your PCN by telephone or by visiting any of the Council's offices.

Your case will then be considered and a letter of the decision will then be sent to you. If your challenge is successful, the PCN will be cancelled.

If your challenge is rejected you will be given a further opportunity to pay your PCN at the discounted rate as long as payment is received within 14 days of you receiving the letter of rejection, and provided you had sent in your initial challenge within 14 days of the issue of the PCN.  

A second appeal stage occurs after 28 days if the PCN remains unpaid.  This is a Notice to Owner (NtO) sent to the person who is recorded on the VQ5 form filed with DVLA as the registered keeper of the vehicle.  If this appeal is rejected they may have grounds for appeal to the independent Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT) (where impartial lawyers consider appeals by motorists and vehicle owners).  A copy of the forms requiring completion for the TPT will be included with the letter of rejection.

Click here for a PCN flowchart

Grounds for appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal

If your challenge to the council is unsuccessful 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 Traffic Penalty Tribunal website.