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The Enforcement Process for a Moving Traffic Penalty Charge Notice

For a list of moving traffic contraventions and their associated signage, please click here.

These are the stages in the enforcement process. Clicking on each will take you a description of that stage.

Penalty Charge Notice

Making Representations

Statutory Declaration

Penalty Charge Notice

Where a local authority believes that a moving traffic contravention has occurred, it may serve a Penalty Charge Notice on the person appearing to them to be the owner of the vehicle.

This is usually the person registered as the keeper at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). The owner is usually, but not always, liable for the penalty whoever was driving. This is known as Owner Liability.

The local authorities commonly use cameras to detect moving traffic contraventions.

The Penalty Charge Notice will usually be served by post.

Your next steps

Pay the penalty charge

payment details are on the Penalty Charge Notice.

you should pay within 28 days beginning with the date of the notice. If the authority RECEIVES payment within the first 14 days, you only have to pay half the penalty.

or:

Make representations to the local authority explaining why you think you should not have to pay the penalty

The grounds on which you may make representations are:

you were not the owner of the vehicle at the material time;

the alleged contravention did not occur;

the person in control of the vehicle at the material time was in control of it without the consent of the owner;

you are a vehicle hire firm and the vehicle in question was, at the material time, hired under a qualifying hire agreement and the person hiring it has signed a statement of liability in respect of any Penalty Charge Notice issued to the vehicle during the term of the hire agreement;

the penalty charge exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case.

Examples of the circumstances in which each ground might apply can be found by clicking here.

Even if one of these grounds does not apply, you may also ask the local authority to consider other reasons for cancelling the penalty, such as mitigation. However, the local authority is only bound to cancel the Penalty Charge Notice if they accept that one of the grounds above applies.

When making representations you should:

explain your reasons fully and clearly;

send clear copies of any relevant documents, keeping originals;

make sure the local authority RECEIVES your representations within 28 days of the date the Penalty Charge Notice is served. They may disregard representations received later. They may consider late representations, but do not have to.

Click here for a list of local authorities and a link to their enforcement web pages.

The local authority considers your representations

The local authority must:

consider representations received in time;

decide whether to accept or reject them;

send to the person who made the representations:

a Notice of Acceptance, if it accepts them; or

a Notice of Rejection and a Notice of Appeal form, if it does not accept them

if it has accepted the representations, cancel the Penalty Charge Notice.

The Adjudicators have decided that a local authority should normally respond to representations within 3 months.

Notice of Acceptance

If you receive a Notice of Acceptance, you will not have to pay the penalty and you need take no further action.

Notice of Rejection

The person to whom a Notice of Rejection has been issued has 28 days, beginning with the date of service of that notice, to either:

pay the penalty charge; or

appeal to the Adjudicator. A Notice of Appeal form should have been sent to you by the local authority with the Notice of Rejection. If this form is not enclosed, the local authority should be contacted to obtain one.

If you wish to appeal to the Adjudicator later than the 28 days, you should still send your appeal but you MUST say on the appeal form why it is late. The Adjudicator will then decide whether to allow you to appeal late.

For more information on how to appeal to the Adjudicator, click here.

If the penalty charge is not paid or an appeal made within the 28 days allowed, the local authority may issue a Charge Certificate.

Notice of Appeal

This is the form which the local authority should send with their Notice of Rejection.

The grounds of appeal are the same as for making representations:

you were not the owner of the vehicle at the material time;

the alleged contravention did not occur;

the person in control of the vehicle at the material time was in control of it without the consent of the owner;

the recipient is a vehicle hire firm and the vehicle in question was, at the material time, hired under a qualifying hire agreement and the person hiring it had signed a statement of liability for any Penalty Charge Notice issued in respect of the vehicle during the term of the hire agreement;

the penalty charge exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case.

Examples of the circumstances in which each ground might apply can be found by clicking here.

The Adjudicator can ONLY allow an appeal if one of these grounds applies. Adjudicators CANNOT allow appeals for other reasons, e.g. mitigating circumstances.

For more information on how to appeal to the Adjudicator, click here.

Charge Certificate

This is a notice issued by the local authority increasing the penalty charge by 50%.

The local authority may issue a charge certificate where the penalty has not ben paid and after:

no representations against the penalty have been made to the local authority, 28 days beginning with the date on which the Penalty Charge Notice is served; or

representations have been made and a Notice of Rejection has been issued by the local authority, 28 days from the date on which the period within which an appeal could have been made expires; or

an unsuccessful appeal has been made against a Notice of Rejection to an Adjudicator, 28 days after the date on which the Adjudicator's decision is served on the appellant; or

an appeal against a Notice of Rejection is withdrawn before a decision is made by an Adjudicator, 14 days beginning with the date on which the appeal is withdrawn.

Registration of Debt and Order for Recovery

If after 14 days of a charge certificate being served the penalty charge is still not paid, the local authority may register it as a debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre.

The local authority may then recover the penalty through the County Court:

the county court, on application from the local authority, will authorise the authority to draw up an Order for Recovery. The local authority will serve this order on you, with a Statutory Declaration form.

if the penalty is not then paid, the authority may apply to the court for a Warrant of Execution.

Your next steps

Pay the outstanding charge or lodge a Statutory Declaration at the Traffic Enforcement Centre.

Statutory Declaration

Where an Order for Recovery has been made, liability for the penalty can then ONLY be challenged in the following circumstances:

you did not receive the Penalty Charge Notice in question; or

you made representations to the local authority concerned but did not receive a Notice of Rejection from that authority; or

you appealed to the adjudicator against the rejection by the local authority of your representations but had no response to the appeal.

If, and ONLY if, one of these applies, you may make a Statutory Declaration.

The completed Statutory Declaration should be returned to the Traffic Enforcement Centre within 21 days beginning with the date of service of the Order for Recovery, although there are provisions for the court to allow longer.

A Statutory Declaration may only be made by the person against whom an Order for Recovery has been made.

It is a criminal offence to make a false Statutory Declaration.

For information available from the Traffic Enforcement Centre on the Statutory Declaration procedure and downloadable forms, click here. (Please note that PATAS cannot accept responsibility for the accuracy of information on third party web sites)

Next steps

What happens next depends on the grounds for making the Statutory Declaration.

if the ground is that the Penalty Charge Notice was not received, the Order for Recovery, Charge Certificate and Penalty Charge Notice are cancelled. The local authority may then issue a new Penalty Charge Notice;

if the ground is that the Notice of Rejection or a decision from the Adjudicator was not received, the local authority must refer the Statutory Declaration to the Adjudicator who will decide what will happen next.