Moving traffic contraventions

Enforcing London’s road signs has historically been the responsibility of the Police. From June 2004 this changed with Transport for London (TfL) taking responsibility for all of London’s major roads. In addition several London boroughs, including Ealing, began enforcement on their roads.

The enforcement of these traffic signs is mainly carried out by using CCTV cameras.

Moving traffic penalty charge notices (PCNs) are issued at a cost of £120, however a discounted payment of £60 will be accepted within the first 14 days only. After the 14 days the PCN will increase to the full charge of £120.

What to do if you receive a moving traffic PCN
The council will send a PCN by post to the vehicle’s registered keeper within approximately 28 days from the date of the alleged contravention. In all cases it is the owner, not the driver of the vehicle who is liable to pay the PCN.

Ways to pay:

pay your PCN online
by phone using your credit card (except American Express, Electron and Diners Club) Contact: (020) 8825 6565
in person using cash, credit and debit cards, postal orders, cheque at our parking reception
by post using postal orders or a cheque. Send it to the address detailed on your PCN. Do not send cash in the post

Disputing your PCN
If you wish to dispute your PCN you can make a representation against the issue of the PCN, but only on limited grounds as listed on the reverse of your PCN.

Disputing your PCN within 14 days of the issue date
If you wish to dispute your PCN, you must do so within 14 days of the date of issue in order for the PCN to be put on hold at the discounted amount of £60. If the council responds to you and rejects your appeal you will still have the option to pay £60 for 14 days only. You will also receive an appeals form for the independent adjudicators Parking and Traffic Appeals Service (PATAS). However if you choose to appeal to PATAS, the PCN will increase to its full charge of £120, but will be put on hold as soon as PATAS receive your forms and notify us of this.

Disputing your PCN between 14 and 28 days of the issue date
After 14 days the PCN will have progressed to its full charge of £120. If you wish to dispute your PCN at the full charge amount (£120), you can do so but only on limited grounds as listed on the reverse of your PCN. Your case will not be put on hold as it has already progressed to the full charge amount. If your appeal is rejected, you will also receive an appeals form for the independent adjudicator PATAS. Your case will be put on hold as soon as PATAS receive your forms and notify us of this.

However, if you do not pay your PCN or dispute the charge, the case will progress and the charges will increase.

Disputing your PCN after 28 days of the issue date
After 28 days of the PCN being issued it will progress to charge certificate stage. You will receive the charge certificate in the post. The charge will be increased by 50% to £180 and you have no right of appeal at this stage. You can either pay within 14 days of the issue of this notice or wait for the order for recovery and statutory declaration forms to be sent, at this stage your case will be registered with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court* as an unpaid fine. The case will then increase by £5 as this is the court charge for registering the case. The amount to be paid will then be £185. At this stage you must make a payment within 21 days or file the statutory declaration with Northampton County Court. You can only appeal on limited grounds on the statutory declaration:

did not receive the PCN
made a representation and did not receive a rejection
made an appeal to PATAS but did not receive a response

If you do not file the 'statutory declaration' or make payment within 21 days then we request Northampton County Court to issue a 'warrant of execution', the case is then passed to Collect Services Limited our bailiff company. You will need to contact them on 0870 389 5595 to arrange payment. You may however file an 'out of time statutory declaration' to Northampton County Court after the 21 days. You can only file this declaration based on the reason you did not file the statutory declaration within the 21 days.

Northampton County Court will then decide if they will accept your 'statutory declaration' after the 21 days timescale has expired. Please note: From 1 October 2008, Northampton County Court are charging a £35 fee for all out of time statutory declarations.

Viewing a video recording
If the video-print is not sufficient, an appointment can be made to view the CCTV footage of the incident. When we send out photos, we normally enclose a viewing request form which can be used to book an appointment. Alternatively viewing requests can be made by writing to: Ealing Council, PO Box 46264, London W5 2UN or by completing the attached video viewing request form (pdf) and emailing it to parkingrep@ealing.gov.uk. There is no charge for viewing the video recording.

* Northampton County Court is the only county court in the country which deals with PCNs.