Appeal a parking fine
You can appeal a parking fine or parking ticket, legally known as a penalty charge notice (PCN), if you think:
- the fine was given by mistake
- there is a good reason why the fine should be cancelled
When to appeal a parking fine
Do not pay a PCN if you plan to appeal.
When you pay a parking fine, you accept that:
- the PCN was issued correctly
- you owe us money for breaking (contravening) parking regulations
Before you pay or appeal the PCN, you can check if your appeal is likely to be successful.
How to appeal a PCN
There are 3 ways to appeal a PCN, which must be followed in this order:
An informal appeal can be made by the:
- owner of the vehicle
- person who was driving the car when the PCN was given
Your informal appeal must include:
- the 10 character PCN reference number (this is printed on your PCN)
- the vehicle registration number (also known as a number plate, licence number or licence plate)
- your reasons why you feel the PCN should be cancelled
- any evidence you can give us to help your appeal
If we reject your informal appeal, and you made it during the 14 day discount period, you will be given another 14 days to pay the parking fine at the discounted rate.
But if the informal appeal was made after the 14 day discount period, the full charge will apply.
You can also make an informal appeal by writing to us at: Buckinghamshire Parking Services, PO Box 3584, Chippenham SN15 9EF.
If a PCN is not paid within 28 days from the date it was given, we will contact the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
We will ask the DVLA to tell us who owned the vehicle at the time the parking fine was given.
We will send the owner of the vehicle a ‘notice to owner’ (NtO). The NtO is a formal request for the parking fine to be paid.
If this happens, the owner of the vehicle has 28 days to make a formal appeal (called a ‘representation of notice to owner’).
Legal grounds to make a formal appeal
A PCN may be cancelled if your formal appeal gives us evidence to prove that the:
- parking contravention did not happen
- person who got the PCN never owned the vehicle in question
- person who got the PCN stopped being the owner of the car before the parking contravention date, or became the owner after that date (proof of sale or purchase will be required)
- vehicle is a hire vehicle, on hire under a formal hire agreement (we will need to see a copy of a signed hire agreement, which includes the start and end dates)
- vehicle was parked without the owner’s consent (this does not cover cases such as lending the vehicle to a friend who then parks illegally, or to a vehicle which is parked illegally while left with a vehicle repair or service business). If the vehicle has been stolen, we will need to see a crime reference number and the name of the police station to which the crime was reported, or a letter from your insurance company
- penalty charge exceeded the amount properly due (that is, the charge is more than you should legally pay, not that you feel the charge is too much)
- order was invalid (that is, we did not follow the proper legal steps when sending you the PCN). If the basis of a challenge is that the terms and conditions of a car park are unclear, the first bullet point above should be used
What happens after you make a formal appeal
If we accept your formal appeal, the case will be closed and you will not need to pay the parking fine.
If we reject your formal appeal, we will send the owner of the vehicle a 'notice of rejection'.
This letter will include:
- instructions on how to pay the PCN
- information on how to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal
If your formal PCN appeal is rejected, you can appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
You can read about the tribunal's appeals process on the Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London (PATROL) website.
PATROL is a national committee that is independent of Buckinghamshire Council.
If you appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and your appeal is rejected, the tribunal's decision is final.
If you do not pay your PCN at this stage, we will send you a 'charge certificate'.
This increases the amount you owe us by 50%. This must be paid within 28 days from the date the charge certificate was sent to you.
If you not pay this charge, we will register the debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court. You will also have to pay a registration fee, which is currently £8.
If payment is not made, the debt could be transferred to an enforcement agent, also known as a bailiff.
Help with your appeal
You can also read:
We cannot help with parking fine appeals or make decisions over the telephone.
Appeals must be made in writing because:
- there is a legal process for parking appeals that we must follow
- we need to have a record of all correspondence and the reasons behind any decisions we make
- all appeals are handled by specialist case officers, not our telephone customer service team
- members of the council outside the parking team and elected members are not allowed to intervene in the appeals process
Our specialist case officers treat each appeal separately and work in a fair and transparent way.
They will consider:
- if the parking fine was issued correctly
- any compassionate grounds or exceptional circumstances that should be taken into account
We aim to respond to all appeals within 10 working days from when we get them.
We will let you know if your appeal has been accepted or rejected.
If you wrote to us to make an appeal, we will post our response to you in writing (unless an email address is provided).
If you contacted us online (or provided an email in your written appeal), we will normally email you with our response.
If you do not get an email response within 10 working days, check your email spam and junk mail folders.
If your appeal is rejected, we will give a reason for our decision and explain the next steps you can take.
If you lose your PCN fine reference number, contact us and let us know:
- your vehicle registration number (also known as a number plate, licence number or licence plate)
- the date the PCN was issued
- details on where you were parked when the PCN was issued