PCN appeals process
The appeals process has three stages for PCNs issued by an officer on street and for bus lane PCNs:
- Informal challenge
- Formal representation
- Independent parking adjudicator
You can submit a challenge or representation online.
If you have more than one PCN you wish to challenge, you must contest each one separately.
Informal challenges
This option is available if you have received a PCN from a civil enforcement officer (CEO) or a PCN relating to a bus lane contravention. An informal challenge made within 14 days of the contravention date (if issued by a CEO) or 14 days from the date of service of a bus lane PCN will be put on hold until you receive our decision.
If your challenge is successful, the PCN is cancelled and no further action is taken. If your challenge is unsuccessful and rejected, you have another opportunity to pay at the discounted rate.
If you are not satisfied with the decision, you must wait until a notice to owner or (for a bus lane PCN) an enforcement notice has been received by the registered keeper of the vehicle. The registered keeper can then make formal representation.
At this stage, representations are made against the full PCN charge. The discounted rate will no longer be available.
Formal representations
This option is available to the registered keeper of a vehicle if they have received:
- a notice to owner, relating to PCN issued by a civil enforcement officer
- an enforcement notice, relating to bus lane contraventions
For a PCN served by post (Moving traffic or CCTV) the document will list the specific grounds on which representations can be made. An officer within the parking administration team will carefully consider the representations and reply to the registered keeper of a vehicle.
If the representation is successful, the PCN is cancelled and no further action is taken. If the representation is unsuccessful, a formal notice of rejection is sent to the registered keeper. This includes payment instructions and a form allowing a further appeal to the independent adjudicator, should the registered keeper choose not to pay the full charge for the PCN within 28 days.
Appeal against a vehicle removal
If your vehicle is removed and you believe this was done in error, you can make an appeal against the penalty charge notice and removal. However, you can only do this after you have paid to release your vehicle.
Details on how to do this will be given to you at the vehicle pound. You must make your appeal within 28 days of collecting your vehicle.
Appeals to the independent adjudicator
If your formal representations have been rejected and you want to appeal further, you can ask an independent parking adjudicator from the Environment Traffic Adjudicators (ETA) to set it aside. You should note the adjudicator can only legally consider appeals on specific grounds.
Once you have submitted your appeal to the adjudicator, a hearing date will be set and we have the opportunity to defend its decision to reject the formal representation. You can choose to receive the adjudicator’s decision by post or attend the hearing in person. The adjudicator’s decision is binding on both us and the person making the appeal.
If an appeal is unsuccessful, the full PCN charge is payable. If the PCN is not paid a charge certificate will be issued.
Order for recovery
If the registered owner of the vehicle does not respond to the charge certificate within 14 days, we can register the debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court, and an order for recovery will be served. The order for recovery includes information on making a statutory declaration/witness statement, and you can contact the TEC if you have an enquiry about this stage of the process.
You can contact the Traffic Enforcement Centre by calling 0300 123 1059.
At this point, the outstanding amount on the PCN will increase by £9, which is a surcharge for the cost of registering the order. You have 21 days from the date of service to pay the outstanding amount on the order for recovery.
If you do nothing, the TEC may grant authority for a warrant of control to be issued and a certified enforcement agent will be asked to recover the debt from you. At this stage the case is out of our hands and actions by the enforcement agent against you may bring additional charges.
Warrants issued by the Court (bailiffs)
If the penalty charge has not been paid within 21 days of the order for recovery being served, we will ask for a warrant of control. Once granted, it will be passed to our certified enforcement agent (bailiff) to recover the amount owed.
If you have been contacted about a PCN that you did not know about, or thought was paid or cancelled, you may contact the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) requesting an out-of-time witness statement. Once notification has been received from TEC, the enforcement agent will be put on hold temporarily.
A certified enforcement agent is allowed to charge recovery fees for every letter, visit and action taken as part of the effort to recover the outstanding amount. Recovery action is taken on behalf the Newham Parking Service by OneSource Enforcement Services who can be contacted as follows:
0203 373 3588
OneSourceEnforcementServices@onesource.co.uk
Enforcement.onesource.co.uk - live on-line chat service
We may also recycle warrants that have not been recovered to other enforcement agents.