Challenging your Penalty Charge Notice
Stage 1 – Initial challenge to the PCN
If you want, you can contact ParkWise immediately after you
receive the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). You should aim to
do this within 14 days of receiving the PCN if you want to
preserve the right to pay at the discount rate. You will normally
be asked to put your point in writing.
State your case clearly and simply. If you have evidence
to support your claims such as receipts or witness statements,
send these in. (We recommend that you always send copies only
and hold on to the originals). The council will write back,
either accepting or rejecting your challenge. If you have
written within 14 days of receiving the PCN and the council
reject your challenge, you should be offered the chance to
pay at the discounted rate.
Stage 2 – Formal Representations to the local council
If the council rejects your informal challenge and you don’t
pay the charge, the council will send a Notice to Owner to
the person or company they believe to be the owner of the
vehicle. By now, the full penalty charge will be payable.
This notice goes to the person believed to be the owner of
the car, because under the Road Traffic Act 1991 it is the
owner of the vehicle who is liable for any Penalty Charge
Notices issued to it, irrespective of who the driver was.
This is known as owner liability.
If you receive a Notice to Owner, you can use the form to
make formal representations to the council. The Notice to
Owner form itself details the legal grounds on which a formal
representation may be made. You must make your representations
within 28 days of receiving the form. Again, state your case
clearly and simply. If you have evidence to support your claims,
such as receipts or witness statements, send them in. (We
recommend that you always send copies only and hold on to
the originals).
If you don’t think you meet one of the legal grounds
for making a representation, you may still state your case,
since the council may exercise its discretion and cancel the
PCN.
If the council waives the Penalty Charge Notice, you will
receive a letter informing you of this. If they decide that
the PCN should not be waived, you will be sent a letter explaining
why. This is called a Notice of Rejection of Representations.
With this letter, you should receive a form called a Notice
of Appeal, allowing you to appeal to the independent Parking
Adjudicator.
Stage 3 – Appealing to the Independent Parking Adjudicator
You may only appeal to the independent Parking Adjudicator
if you have first used the ‘Notice to Owner’ form
to make representations to the council that issued the PCN
and have received their ‘Notice of Rejection of Representations.
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