Parking

Penalty Charge Notices

Appealing against a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN)

Parking PCN, issued by a Civil Enforcement Officer (Parking Attendant)

Note: 'date of service' means that date the penalty charge notice was received by the owner of a vehicle / registered keeper.

If you receive a penalty charge notice, which you feel is unfair, you may challenge it using the representations and appeals process.

There are 3 stages that form the process:

Informal representation (pre-Notice to Owner)
Formal representation (Notice to Owner); and
Appeal - to the independent parking adjudicator

1. Informal representation (pre-Notice to Owner)

If you have received a penalty charge notice that you do not think should have been issued, you may contact us to explain your reasons.

If you submit your representation to us within 14 days of service of the penalty charge notice, the amount of the penalty charge will be held at the 50% discounted amount.

Once we have investigated your representation, we will let you know the outcome and allow a further 14 days to make payment at the reduced rate. The penalty charge notice will revert to its full amount after 14 days.

If your representation is sent to us outside the 14 day discount period, the full amount of the penalty charge notice will be payable if your representations is subsequently rejected.

Please note that if you wish to submit a representation, you can only do this by writing to us. We are unable to cancel any penalty charge notice over the telephone. Any representation you wish to make must be made in writing, as it constitutes your evidence against the notice. We can however offer advice to you on whether, in the circumstances, you may have grounds for a representation.

You may post your representations to:

Parking Services

PO Box 500

Barking

IG11 7LU

You may also send us your representation by emailing parking@lbbd.gov.uk or by completing the challenge your penalty charge notice online form.

We will investigate the points raise in your representation, make a decision as to whether or not the penalty charge notice must be paid and let you know as quickly as possible.

2. Formal representation (Notice to Owner)

You may make formal representations to us only after receiving a Notice to Owner document.

There are 8 grounds on which representations may be made and details of these are given on the Notice to Owner document, which are also shown below:

The alleged contravention did not occur:
- (1) You were never the owner of the vehicle in question
- (2) You had ceased to be the owner before the date on which the alleged contravention occurred; or
- (3) You became its owner after that date
The vehicle had been permitted to remain at rest in place in question by a person who was in control of the vehicle without the owner's consent:
You are a vehicle-hire firm and:
- (1) The vehicle in question was on hire under a hiring agreement at the time of the contravention; and
- (2) The person hiring the vehicle had signed a statement of liability acknowledging their liability in respect of any penalty charge notice served during the period of the hire agreement
The penalty charge exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case
There has been a procedural impropriety (described below) on the part of the enforcement authority
The traffic order (except where it is an order made under Schedule 9 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984) which is alleged to have been contravened is invalid
A civil enforcement officer was not prevented from serving the original penalty charge notice by affixing it to the vehicle or handing it to the owner or person in charge of the vehicle
The notice to owner should not have been served as the penalty charge had already been paid in full or had been paid within the specified period at the reduced amount

If the penalty charge notice cannot be cancelled, and you disagree with our decision, you will be told the reasons why and sent a form that allows you to appeal to the independent parking adjudicator.

3. Appeal - to the independent parking adjudicator

An experienced lawyer who is independent of us will consider your case at adjudication. You cannot appeal to the parking adjudicator until we have told you that your representation has been rejected.

You may choose whether to attend the hearing in person or deal with it by post. The decision of the adjudicator is final and binding upon both you and us. You can find out more about the Parking Adjudicator by visiting the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service website.

Appeals are held at New Zealand House, Haymarket in central London.

Challenge against a penalty charge notice|