How to appeal a council PCN (Penalty Charge Notice)
Updated 20 September 2026 · By the AppealGo team
Short answer
You can challenge a council Penalty Charge Notice for free. Make an informal challenge within 14 days to keep the 50% discount, make formal representations within 28 days of the Notice to Owner, and appeal to an independent adjudicator (London Tribunals, or the Traffic Penalty Tribunal elsewhere in England and Wales) within 28 days of a rejection. Do not pay first, because payment closes the case, and build the challenge on a specific error: defective signs or lines, wrong details on the notice, a loading exemption, the 10-minute grace period or a failed payment machine.
| Penalty in London | £160 or £140 (higher level) or £110 or £90 (lower level), depending on the charging band, since 7 April 2025 |
|---|---|
| Penalty elsewhere in England | £70 (higher level) or £50 (lower level) in most council areas; £60 and £40 in a few |
| Discount | 50% if paid within 14 days (21 days for a PCN posted from camera evidence) |
| Informal challenge | Within 14 days of a windscreen or hand-served PCN keeps the discount if it is rejected |
| Formal representations | Within 28 days of the Notice to Owner; no reply within 56 days cancels the PCN |
| Tribunal appeal | Within 28 days of a Notice of Rejection; free, online, by phone or in person |
| Grace period | 10 minutes after paid or permitted time ends in a council parking place |
| If ignored | A Charge Certificate adds 50%, then the debt is registered at the Traffic Enforcement Centre |
A Penalty Charge Notice from a council is a civil penalty, not a criminal fine. It is issued under the Traffic Management Act 2004 for parking, and under related regulations for bus lanes and moving traffic. That matters, because the whole process is set out in law, the council has to follow it, and you get two chances to argue your case before an independent tribunal even exists.
This guide covers the standard route for a council PCN. If your notice came from a private car park operator such as ParkingEye or Euro Car Parks, it is a different animal entirely: read our private parking charge guide instead.
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Check my noticeHow much is a council PCN?
The amount depends on where you are and how serious the contravention is treated as being. Since 7 April 2025 London boroughs charge £160 or £140 for a higher-level contravention (for example parking on a yellow line or in a disabled bay) and £110 or £90 for a lower-level one (for example overstaying in a paid bay), depending on which of London's two charging bands the street falls in. Transport for London charges £160 on its red routes. Elsewhere in England the levels are set by regulation: £70 and £50 in most council areas, and £60 and £40 in a few.
Whatever the amount, you get 50% off if you pay within 14 days of the notice being served. For PCNs sent to you by post after being caught on camera, the discount period is usually 21 days. The notice itself will say exactly which applies to you.
The four stages of a council PCN
- The PCN. Stuck on the windscreen, handed to you, or posted to the registered keeper. You have 28 days to pay or challenge, and the 50% discount for the first 14 (or 21).
- Informal challenge. For on-street and council car park PCNs you can write to the council straight away. If the council rejects it within the discount window, it will normally re-offer the discount for another 14 days. Postal camera PCNs skip this stage: the PCN itself counts as the Notice to Owner, so you go straight to formal representations.
- Notice to Owner and formal representations. If the PCN is unpaid after 28 days, the council serves a Notice to Owner on the registered keeper. You then have 28 days to make formal representations on the statutory grounds. Our Notice to Owner guide explains this stage.
- Tribunal appeal. If the council issues a Notice of Rejection, you have 28 days to appeal to an independent adjudicator. In London that is London Tribunals; everywhere else in England and in Wales it is the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. It is free, it can be done online or by phone, and the adjudicator's decision is binding on the council.
If you do nothing at any stage, the penalty escalates: a Charge Certificate adds 50%, then the debt is registered as an order for recovery, and finally enforcement agents get involved. Our guide to charge certificates and the TE9 witness statement covers how to stop that.
Grounds that actually win
Councils cancel PCNs every day. The strongest challenges are not apologies or explanations of why you were in a hurry; they point to a specific thing the council got wrong. In our experience these come up again and again:
- Signs and lines that do not comply. Restrictions only bite if the signs and road markings match the regulations. Faded lines, missing time plates, signs hidden behind foliage or facing the wrong way are all grounds for cancellation. Photographs are essential.
- The details on the PCN are wrong. A wrong registration, a wrong location, a contravention code that does not match what happened, or a missing mandatory statement can make the notice invalid.
- You were loading or unloading. Most yellow-line restrictions allow loading unless there are kerb blips. Civil enforcement officers are supposed to observe before issuing, and delivery evidence often beats the PCN.
- You were within the grace period. In England there is a statutory 10-minute grace period after paid-for or permitted time expires in council parking places, on-street and in council car parks (regulation 5 of SI 2022/71).
- The payment system failed. A pay-and-display machine out of order or an app outage, backed by a photo or the app's own status page, is a well-established ground.
- A valid permit, ticket or Blue Badge was displayed but the officer missed it, or it had slipped. Councils often cancel these on production of the document.
- The vehicle was not yours at the time, or had been sold, stolen, or was on hire. The PCN follows the registered keeper, so paperwork proving the transfer usually ends the matter.
- Procedural impropriety. Councils have to serve notices in the right order and within the right timescales. Missed deadlines on their side are a full defence.
Mitigation (a genuine emergency, a breakdown, a medical episode) is not a statutory ground, but councils have discretion and adjudicators can recommend cancellation. It is worth stating plainly, with evidence, on top of any technical point. See our guide to appeal grounds for more.
What to send with your challenge
Keep it factual and short. The person reading it has hundreds to get through. Quote the PCN number and registration, say which ground you rely on, and attach evidence: photos of the signs and lines from the driver's point of view, receipts, delivery notes, a Blue Badge, the V5C or bill of sale, screenshots of a failed payment. Date-stamped photos taken on the day are worth far more than ones taken a week later.
If you would rather not write it yourself, AppealGo reads the notice, checks the details against the contravention, drafts the representations and files them with the council. Checking is free.
Common questions
Does challenging a PCN cost anything?
No. Informal challenges, formal representations and tribunal appeals are all free. The only cost is your time, or a small fee if you use a service like AppealGo to do it for you.
Will I lose the 50% discount if I challenge?
For an informal challenge made within the discount period, councils will almost always re-offer the discount for 14 days if they reject you. Once you reach formal representations after a Notice to Owner, the discount has usually gone, though some councils still offer it as goodwill.
How long does the council take to reply?
There is no fixed limit for informal challenges, but most councils reply within a few weeks. If you have made formal representations and heard nothing for 56 days, the regulations treat that as the representations being accepted, and the PCN is cancelled.
Can I appeal a PCN in Scotland or Northern Ireland?
Yes, but under different laws. Scottish council PCNs use the Road Traffic Act 1991 regime and appeals go to the Parking and Bus Lane Tribunal for Scotland. Northern Ireland has its own scheme run by the Department for Infrastructure. The grounds are broadly similar.
Sources
- Traffic Management Act 2004, Part 6 (civil enforcement)
- Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022, SI 2022/71
- Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2022, SI 2022/576
- SI 2022/71 regulation 5: the 10-minute grace period
- SI 2022/71 Schedule 3: penalty charge levels outside London
- London Councils: parking and traffic PCN levels from 7 April 2025
- GOV.UK: challenging a parking ticket
- London Tribunals (Environment and Traffic Adjudicators)
- Traffic Penalty Tribunal
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This guide is general information about UK motoring penalties, not legal advice. Deadlines, amounts and procedures are set by the issuer and the regulations in force, and the notice you were sent is always the authoritative source for your own dates. See our disclaimer.
