The Appeal Process
Stop Yawning! I've outlined the appeal process in plain, simple English and I have only included the most necessary information! Seriously though - knowing the process could save you a couple of quid and make the difference between a successful and unsucessful appeal.
There are a few topics in this section:
- The appeal process
- Services to help you make your appeal
- Bus Contraventions
- Moving Traffic Contraventions
- A basic glossary of any legal terms used
Tips
- Don’t pay your ticket if you think you have a case, as you cannot appeal once you have paid!
- Quote the PCN number on any correspondence you send
- Check the contravention codes (link here) to see if you have any grounds to challenge
- Double check that the amount required is correct, as if not that is ground on which you can appeal your ticket
The Appeal Process
The appeal process has four basic steps as outlined in the diagram below.
Stage 1 of the Appeal Process: Contact the Local Council
If you are accused of contravening a traffic regulation, then the first step in the appeal process is to contact your local council in writing, within 14 days of receiving your Penalty Charge Notice. If you do not contact them within this period you will loose your right to pay the ticket at the discounted rate
Find your local authority to begin the appeal process by typing in your postcode here or use a map on the same link to identify who you need to contact.
The council will write back either accepting or rejecting your appeal. If you are still convinced that you have ground for appeal, then you do not pay and you (or the actual owner of the vehicle) must wait for a Notice to Owner which is part of the second stage of the appeal process. If you do decide to pay, and you corresponded within 14 days, then you will still be able to pay the ticket at the discounted rate.
Tips
- Throughout the appeal process State your case as clearly and as simply as you can – use a diplomatic tone rather than an aggressive one.
- Ask someone to proofread your letter
- If you have any evidence to back your appeal such as witness statements, receipts or photographs then send a copy of these in
Stage 2 of the Appeal Process: Make a Formal Representation (Appeal) to the Council
If your appeal to the council was rejected and you do not pay the ticket, then you will be sent a Notice to Owner within 28 days of the original ticket issue and you will now be recorded as owning the full charge of the ticket.
At this stage of the appeal process you can either pay the ticket or you can use the Notice to Owner form to make a formal representation to the council. You need to make your representation (ie fill out the form and send it back to the council) within 28 days.
The council will either write back to you waiving the PCN (this means that your appeal has been successful) or else you will receive a Notice of Rejection of Representations, with a Notice to Owner form to now appeal to a Parking Adjudicator. If your appeal has been rejected you will also receive a letter letting you know why.
Tips
- Throughout the appeal process, state your case as clearly and as simply as you can – use a diplomatic tone rather than an aggressive one.
- Ask someone to proofread your letter
- If you have any evidence to back your appeal such as witness statements, receipts or photographs then send a copy of these in
- If you don’t think that you meet the legal grounds for an appeal, then it won’t hurt to state your case, as politely as possible, as the council still has the power to cancel your PCN
- The Local Authority must receive your Notice To Owner form within 28 days - so make sure that you include postal time in your deadline!
Stage 3 of the Appeal Process: Appeal to the Parking Adjudicator
Your appeal to the parking adjudicator needs to be made within 28 days of receiving the Notice of Rejection of Representations and the Notice to Owner form.
At this stage of the appeal process you will need to decide whether you want your appeal to be decided by a postal hearing or whether you would like to be invited to a personal hearing to meet the adjudicator and answer their questions.
If you do decide to have a personal hearing you must choose one of the appeal venues (usually public rooms like libraries or hotels) on the Notice to Appeal form. You do not need to choose a venue closest to where the ticket was issued. (Due to the informal nature of these proceedings legal representation is rarely necessary.)
Whether you choose a postal or a personal hearing, the local authority must send you a copy of their evidence at least three days before the hearing date.
Tips
- Again offer copies of any evidence you have to support your case
- When you are preparing your appeal you might find it useful to look at key cases that have been decided before. You will find a database of Succesful Parking Appeals here
Stage 4 of the Appeal Process: The Final Decision
If you opted for a postal hearing, then a written decision (usually within a week) will be sent to both parties.
If you opted for a personal hearing, the decision will almost always be given at the end of the proceedings. This decision will also be put in writing and sent to both parties (usually within a week.)
If you have won your appeal – well done, the appeal process has been succesful! If you have paid any money to the council, you will be refunded.
If you have lost the appeal, you need to pay the charge due to the council within 28 days.
What about Costs being awarded at the end of the appeal process?
It is highley unlikely that the adjudicator will award costs to the appellant and it will only be considered if the adjudicator finds the Local Authorities' behaviour ‘frivolous, vexatious or wholly unreasonable’. If this is the case only tangible costs will be rewarded and not emotional costs like stress.
In the same light, the Adjudicator would only award costs to the Local Authority if he or she found that you had been ‘frivolous, vexatious or wholly unreasonable’ in making the appeal.
Services that Will Help You Make Your Appeal
Ticket Busters offer a subscription for £9.99 that gives you unlimited access to all of their resources. Learn the rules of the appeal process, regulations and how to appeal against your parking ticket. I do not actually subscribe to the service as I feel there is enough free information on the web, however this service does come highly recommended from other websites.
Appeal Now have on online registeration service that for a once off fee from £7.99 they will handle the appeal process for you. It apparently takes 5 minutes to register and update your details and then they handle everything else from that point on.
Parking Ticket have a free subscription service to keep you up to date on parking information.
London Motorists Action Group aim to empower London motorists in their fight against parking enforcement. There are all sorts of resources and advice throughout the appeal process to help empower you against the greedy traffic wardens
Bus Contraventions - How does the Appeal Process differ?
A penalty charge notice will be issued as with parking contraventions. The appeal process following this is very similar except that instead of receiving a Notice to Owner form in Stage 2 the owner of the vehicle (or the person the local authority believe to be the registered keeper of the vehicle) will be issued with an Enforcement Notice. A formal representation can the be made within 28 days of receiving this.
The process following on from this point is the same.
The grounds for representation (appeal) are different from a parking contravention. You can read them on my grounds for appeal section.
Moving Traffic Contraventions - How does the Appeal Process differ?
A penalty charge notice is issued for a moving traffic convention, as with the appeal process for a parking contravention . The main difference however, is that the owner of the vehicle (or the person the local authority believe to be the registered keeper of the vehicle) does not need to contact the local authorities as I described in Stage 1 but can rather make a representation straight away (upon receipt of the PCN.)
The representation must be made within 28 days of receiving the PCN.
The grounds for representation (appeal) are different to a parking contravention. You can read them on my grounds for appeal section.
Glossary of Legal Terms used in the Appeal Process
Appellant
An Appellant is the person making the appeal in the appeal process.
Contravention
A contravention is the act of opposing or violating something. In this case it would be a traffic regulation determined by the law.
Discounted Rate
If the penalty charge is paid within 14 days of the date of issue in the appeal process, then a discounted rate of 50% for the penalty will apply.
Notice to Owner
Under the Road Trafic Act of 1991, the owner of the vehicle is liable for a penalty charge issued to a vehicle, regardless of whether the owner was driving the vehicle at the time as the owner is presumed to be the registered keeper of the bike. The local authority will do a check at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority and this is the person that will be liable for the charge and will receive the Notice to Owner.
The Notice to Owner requires the owner either to:
- make payment of the full penalty charge within 28 days
- or to make a formal representation against liability for the charge within 28 days.
Parking Ajudicator
A parking adjudicator is an independant solictor or barrister (with at least 5 years experience in this profession) appointed to consider appeals against penalty charge notices.
Penalty Charge Notice
A Penalty Charge Notice is issued by a parking attendant to a motorist who appears to be in contravention (violation or opposition) to a parking regulation. A Penalty Charge Notice must contain certain information such as a description of which contravention supposedly occurred
Personal Hearing
You are required to specify where you would like a personal hearing to be held in stage 4 of the appeal process and the time at which you would like it to be held. (You may find that your specified time is unavailable, in which case, you will be asked for another time.)The personal hearings are informal, and in most instances the council will not send a representative, but only their evidence. Hearings are open to the public but it is unlikely that there will be anyone there but the appellant (the biker making the appeal) and the adjudicator. Appellants are allowed to bring in a witness as well. The adjudicator will have both the local authority's and the appellenat's evidence. This will either be shown on a computer or on a file so everyone will be able to see it. The attendants will not have to make an oath, but if a deliberate lie is told then the lier could be prosecuted.
Postal Hearing
If the appellant (the biker making the appeal) decides to have a postal decision, then the adjudicator will look at the evidence from both the local authority and the appellant that has been sent in and make a decision based on the evidence. The sooner the evidence is submitted, the better. If an appellant deliberately tells the Adjudicator something that is not true he or she could be prosecuted. Once the adjudicator has made a decision a letter will be printed with the decision in it, and it will be sent to the local authority and the appellant within a couple of days.
Notice of Rejection of Representations
This is a letter issued by the council to inform a motorist that their formal representation against a Notice to Owner in respect to a Penalty Charge Notice has been rejected.
Formal Representation
This is simply an appeal to the ticket that you have been issued by using the Notice to Owner form in the stage 2 of the appeal process.
The Enforcement Notice
The Enforcement Notice, given for bus contraventions, is issued 28 days after the issue of the Penalty Charge Notice if the PCN remains unpaid.
Waiver
A waiver of a penalty charge or to waive a penalty charge means that the council has relaxed the charge and you are no longer liable to pay it. In other words the appeal process has been succesful.