How to appeal a parking ticketHow to contest a parking ticket

Very few people appeal parking tickets, but two thirds of those who do appeal win their case. Here’s how you can appeal different types of parking ticket.

To appeal a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and/or a council clamp fee

There are several legal grounds for appealing against a PCN parking ticket, including that the alleged parking contravention did not actually happen, or that when the vehicle was parked it had been taken without your consent. 

A full list of grounds for appeal against parking tickets is available on the National Parking Adjudication Service website.

You may also think you shouldn't have received a parking ticket because of exceptional circumstances (for example, you had stopped your car to help at an accident).

Appeal the parking ticket/clamp fee informally

Start your parking ticket appeal informally by writing to the council explaining in detail why the parking ticket was wrong. Include any evidence to support your case, such as receipts, witness statements or photos. If you write within 14 days of receiving the notice, the early-payment discount period is usually frozen until you receive a response.

If you've received a postal PCN parking ticket, start the appeals process with a formal appeal (see below). 

Do not pay the parking ticket at this stage, as once you've paid it’s almost impossible to get a refund.

Appeal the parking ticket/clamp fee formally

If you're appealing against clamping fees and the council doesn't respond at all within 56 days of receiving your letter of appeal, it must cancel the PCN parking ticket and refund the release fee you've paid.

If the council rejects your informal parking ticket appeal, you will be given have the opportunity to appeal formally to the council. This is called making formal representations, and the council will inform you how to do this. 

Those who receive a parking ticket by post only have the option of starting their appeal at this formal representations stage. In this case there is a 21 day discount payment period.

Notice to Owner

If the council rejects your formal appeal, you will receive a Notice to Owner (NTO) that officially orders you to pay the original charge. It also tells you how to present a further parking ticket appeal to independent adjudicators. 

There are four different parking adjudication services serving different parts of the UK. PATAS serves London, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal serves the rest of the UK and Wales and parking tickets issued in Northern Ireland are adjudicated by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (NI). Civil parking tickets issued in Scotland are handled by Scottish Parking Appeals Service which can be contacted on 0131 221 0409. 

You have 28 days from the day the NTO is served (usually two days after the NTO is issued) to either pay the parking ticket fee or lodge a formal appeal against the parking ticket. If you do neither, the council has the right to increase the fine by 50%. If you still don't pay, the council can register the debt at the county court and can then send bailiffs to recover it.

Lodge a formal parking ticket/clamp fee appeal

If you don't agree with the council’s decision, you can lodge a formal appeal against the parking ticket with the independent parking adjudication service. There are four parking ticket appeal services for different parts of the UK. The NTO will tell you which parking ticket appeal service to write to, and also has information about how to present your appeal.

You will be able to opt for either a postal or personal parking ticket appeal hearing, and adjudication service staff will then send you formal acknowledgement that your parking ticket appeal has been received and registered.

Await the verdict

If you've asked for a postal decision on your parking ticket appeal, you'll be notified of the week in which your parking ticket appeal is due to be decided. If you've asked for a personal appeal, you will usually receive at least 21 days’ notice of when and where this will be held. 

Adjudicators are independent experienced legal professionals who will come to a decision after looking at information from both the person appealing the parking ticket and the council.

To appeal an Excess Charge Notice (ECN) or Standard Charge Notice (SCN)

ECN and SCN appeals are dealt with by the council that issued the notice.

Write to the council

Within seven days of receiving the notice, write to the council explaining why the parking ticket is unfair or wrong. Include any evidence to support your case, such as receipts, witness statements or photos.

Some councils allow parking ticket appeals to be made online, so check the council’s website for details. The early-payment discount period will usually be frozen while your case is examined.

Appeal again

You should receive a written response to your parking ticket appeal within 14 days. If the council rejects your parking ticket appeal, but you still don't believe you should have to pay the parking fine, you'll usually be able to appeal again by writing to a more senior parking official. 

The response from the council will explain how to do this. However, ECNs and SCNs are not dealt with by the independent adjudication services, and some councils only allow one appeal.

To appeal a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN)

FPN parking tickets are issued by police officers or police traffic wardens and are dealt with through the criminal justice system. The only official system of FPN parking ticket appeal is to opt to have your case heard in court and plead not guilty. 

However, some police forces do allow an informal parking ticket appeal, when you can write a letter explaining why you don't think you should have to pay the parking ticket fine. If this is possible in your area, information about where to write to will be included with the FPN parking ticket.

Write to the Central Ticket Office

If you're allowed to, write to the Central Ticket Office address on the notice within 14 days of receiving it, explaining why you think the FPN parking ticket is wrong or unfair. Include any evidence to support your case, such as receipts, witness statements or photos.

If your informal parking ticket appeal is rejected

If your informal parking ticket appeal is rejected, you'll be asked to pay the original fine or opt to have your case heard in the magistrates’ court. If you do nothing, you'll receive a summons to go to court.

To opt for a parking ticket court hearing

To opt for a court hearing, fill in Part III on the reverse of the ticket and return it to the address provided. 

You will then receive a summons and be asked to fill out and return a Plea and Mitigation form. You can use the Mitigating Circumstances page to give additional information about your case, or explain why you are pleading not guilty.

Plead not guilty

There will be an initial hearing, at which you will need to plead not guilty, and you will have to say whether you want to call any witnesses to the trial. You don't necessarily need to attend this hearing – it can be done by post.

The magistrate will then list your case for trial. You will be told of a hearing date which you, or your legal representative, must attend to set out your case in defence.

Put your case

The actual trial will be based on the principle that you are innocent until your guilt is proved ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. At your trial you'll be given the chance to put across your case, call any witnesses to support it and present any evidence you have.

Await the verdict

Motoring offences are made up of numerous elements and the prosecution (usually a representative of the Crown Prosecution Service) must prove every element of the offence. If the verdict is guilty, you will be ordered to pay the parking fine and possibly court costs as well. A not guilty verdict means all charges against you will be withdrawn and you will not have to pay the penalty or court costs.

• For regular cars updates, subscribe to the Which? cars advice RSS feed here. If you have an older web browser you may need to copy and paste this link into your newsreader: http://www.which.co.uk/feeds/advice/cars.xml. Find out more about RSS in the Which? guide to news feeds.