Parking tickets and fines

The Road Traffic Act 1991 (RTA) was introduced to decriminalise parking fines allowing local authorities to issue penalty charge notices (PCNs) for offences such as parking on yellow lines, footway parking, not displaying valid pay and display tickets or parking permits within a controlled parking zone (CPZ).

The powers of the RTA were officially handed over to local authorities by the Secretary of State in 1994. From 31 March 2008, the parking enforcement provisions in the RTA were replaced by the Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA). Decriminalised parking enforcement (DPE) is now known as civil parking enforcement (CPE). Parking attendants (PAs) are now known as civil enforcement officers (CEOs).

Charges
The differential parking penalties system means that two levels of charges are payable for a penalty charge notice (PCN) - a higher rate and a lower rate.

Parking penalties at the higher rate:

£100 reduced to £50 if paid within 14 days from the date of issue of the penalty charge notice

Parking penalties at the lower rate:

£60 reduced to £30 if paid within 14 days from the date of issue of the penalty charge notice

What to do if you receive a PCN
You will receive the PCN affixed to your vehicle or handed to the driver by one of our CEOs. The PCN will be inside a yellow envelope and will have all the details you need on it. There will be the reason the PCN has been issued along with details on how to pay and how to make a challenge.

We can also post a PCN, if a parking contravention is observed via a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera, or if a CEO is prevented from issuing a PCN, or if a vehicle drives away before the CEO can affix the PCN to the vehicle or hand it to the driver.

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 a PCN affixed to your vehicle or handed to the driver by a CEO
If the PCN is not paid before the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the date on which it was served, a notice to owner (NTO) may be served by the council on the owner of the vehicle.

A person on whom an NTO is served will be entitled to make representations to the council against the penalty charge and may appeal to an adjudicator if those representations are rejected.

The council may disregard any representations which are received by them after the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the date on which the PCN was served.

If representations against the penalty charge are received by post at Ealing Council, Parking Services,PO Box 46264, London, W5 2UN or by fax at 020 8825 8715 before an NTO is served, those representations will be considered, but if an NTO is served notwithstanding those representations, representations against the penalty charge must be made in the form and manner and at the time specified in the NTO.

If we receive representations against the penalty charge not later than the last day of the period of 14 days beginning with the date on which the PCN was served, but reject the challenge, we will allow a further 14 days from the date on which the rejection letter is issued in which to pay the reduced (£50/£30) penalty charge.

Disputing a PCN served by post
A person on whom a postal PCN is served will be entitled to make representations to the council against the penalty charge and may appeal to an adjudicator if those representations are rejected.

Representations may be made by post to Ealing Council, Parking Services, PO Box 46264, London, W5 2UN or by fax to 020 8825 8715.

The council may disregard any representations which are received by them after the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the date on which the PCN was served.

If your penalty charge relates to a parking contravention observed via CCTV and we receive representations against the penalty charge not later than the last day of the period of 21 days beginning with the date on which the PCN was served, but reject the challenge, we will allow a further 14 days from the date on which the rejection letter is issued in which to pay the reduced (£50/£30) penalty charge.

If your penalty charge relates to a parking contravention where the CEO was prevented from issuing the PCN or the vehicle drove away before the CEO could issue a PCN and we receive representations against the penalty charge not later than the last day of the period of 14 days beginning with the date on which the PCN was served, but reject the challenge, we will allow a further 14 days from the date on which the rejection letter is issued in which to pay the reduced (£50/£30) penalty charge.

Appealing to the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service (PATAS)
If your representation is rejected, you will receive a rejection letter with a notice of appeals (NOA) form. The NOA form can be used to appeal to an independant adjudicator at the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service (PATAS). If you decide not to appeal, then you must pay the outstanding fine within 28 days starting from the date on which the rejection letter is served.

Increase in charges
The council will increase the charge by 50% to £150 or £90 dependeng on whether it is a higher or lower rate charge and issue a charge certificate (CC) if the penalty charge has not been paid and one of the following applies:

No representations were made in response to the NTO/PCN
We issued a notice of rejection of representations made against the NTO and we have not been informed of an appeal having been made to the adjudicator
We issued a notice of rejection of adjudicator’s recommendation
An appeal was made to the adjudicator but was either rejected or withdrawn

You will receive the charge certificate in the post. You have no right of appeal at this stage, you can either pay within 14 days of the date of service of the CC or wait for an order for recovery (OFR) to be issued by the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court *. At this stage your case will be registered with Northampton County Court as an unpaid fine and the charge will increase by £5. £5 is the court charge for registering the case. The amount to be paid will then be £155 or £95 depending on whether the PCN was a higher or lower rate.

At this stage you must make a payment within approximately 25 days or file a statement with Northampton County Court if you believe you have grounds for not paying the charge. You may make a witness statement under one of the following grounds:

You paid the penalty charge notice in full within 28 days. You must provide details of the date payment was made, the method of payment i.e. cash, cheque etc. and who the payment was made to. Please note you may be asked to provide proof of payment upon request.
You did not receive a penalty charge notice.
You made representations about the penalty charge to the council and you did not receive a reply within 28 days (rejection notice)
You appealed to the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service against the council's decision to reject your representation within 28 days, but you had no response to your appeal.

If you do not make a witness statement or make payment within the allocated time then we can 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. If you need more time in which to file your witness statement you may apply to Northampton County Court to file a statement out of time.

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