How to appeal a Parking Charge Notice (PCN)

While we mainly focus on private Parking Charge Notices here, hence the title, we also provide you with an overview of how to appeal a council PCN when issued for a parking contravention. While the same acronym ‘PCN’ is currently used by both, it’s important to know that Penalty Charge Notices (council) and Parking Charge Notices (private operators) are very different. 

Can your PCN be successfully challenged and is it unfair? Is it enforceable? This will depend on the circumstances. Maybe you’ve received intimidating debt collector letters regarding a private PCN and feared that there’s not much you can do but pay up. We know that doesn’t sit well with the majority of people who were merely parking at home or at the shops, or if your charge just seems unfair. When asked in an RAC Opinion Panel survey if private parking firms treat motorists fairly, only 2% of respondents agreed. 

If you believe that your Parking Charge Notice (PCN) is wrong, here’s what you need to know. 

Parking Charge Notices (PCNs) from private parking operators are invoices that rely on contract law and are invariably not issued by (nor even ‘on behalf of’) the landowner, nor are they likely to be issued for alleged trespass. A parking operator will seek to rely on photographic images of the vehicle to allege that the driver 'agreed to’ and/or 'breached' a contractual term and they will say that this conduct has resulted in a charge of up to £100, which is the current cap set by the industry itself. 

In recent years the RAC has noted clear evidence of a continuous rise in PCNs (shown in the chart below) and the history can be traced back over a decade: 

• The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 banned wheelclamping on private land (except where byelaws apply) due to firms’ rogue conduct. Policymakers sought to balance that with a right to hold the registered keeper liable for parking charges whether they were driving or not, as long as the keeper had the option to name the driver before court action. This right only applies under the circumstances set out in Schedule 4. This law currently applies in England and Wales only and appears to have encouraged some firms into mass ‘ticketing’ and aggressive litigation. The number of parking firms is far higher than in 2012 and new ‘bulk litigators’ have appeared. 
• A motorist challenged the legitimacy of his parking charge (£85 in a free retail park) in 2015 but the Supreme Court held in ParkingEye v Beavis that a PCN may recover a higher sum than mere loss. However, the right to recover a parking charge does not necessarily apply in every situation; their Lordships stated that other parking charges can still be unrecoverable and noted that the case turned on the ‘unique’ circumstances; in particular the prominence and positioning of the signs at that site at that time, as well as passing a test for ‘legitimate interest’ and fairness. Even if a parking operator cites the case, it’s not set in stone that it even applies to your PCN. 
• In 2019 the Parking (Code of Practice) Act was brought into law and among its provisions, it requires the Government to consult and introduce a statutory code of practice. Having worked with the industry and consumer groups and after two public consultations, such a code was laid before Parliament in 2022. It was welcomed by MPs but it was swiftly blocked by judicial reviews by firms connected to the industry. 
• The current Government has stated its intention to regulate the parking industry. The RAC, consumer groups and MPs are keen to get the statutory code across the line. You can read the RAC’s view of the delay in regulating the parking industry here. 

It's important to remember that a private Parking Charge Notice (PCN) is not a fine or penalty. Despite using the same acronym as a council PCN (Penalty Charge Notice) the rationale behind private parking charges is different. 

However, some private firms act for councils (so, their logo may appear on a council issued charge notice) and to add to the confusion, a few private operators issue ‘penalty notices’ in their own name at train station or tram car parks, which purport to rely on byelaws. If wanting to appeal any PCN (or PN) it’s vital to read it carefully, noting who issued it and how to appeal it. 

Who is liable? 

For council PCNs, it’s the owner (presumed to be the registered keeper) who is primarily liable for the penalty, whoever was driving. 

For private PCNs, the driver is primarily liable but a parking operator who has fully complied with Schedule 4 has the right to pursue an unpaid PCN against the registered keeper, if they don’t know the name and address of the driver.  

Like councils, accredited operator scheme member private parking firms can obtain the name and address of the ‘Keeper of a Vehicle at the Date of an Event’ (the ‘KADOE service’) from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (‘the DVLA’) under certain rules.  

While councils have a free link, parking firms pay £2.50 per record. They are allowed to do this on the basis that the data identifies the keeper in order to pursue them (keeper liability cases only) or the driver if the keeper names that person, which is optional on private land. 

Data is released electronically without human checks, providing they are approved members of an accredited trade association (‘ATA’). There are currently two ATAs: the British Parking Association (‘the BPA’) and the International Parking Community (‘the IPC’) and they currently have a single code of practice for approved operators. The current version can be found here and you can read the RAC’s view on this self-regulation here. 

Some notable differences between council and private PCNs: 

1. A council PCN for a traffic contravention is a penalty. It relies on a breach of a Traffic Regulation Order, a legal document that controls speed, movement and parking of vehicles within a set area of roadways, or a parking places order if the location is a council car park. The actual legislation relied on will differ depending on the location and whether it’s a ‘moving traffic’ or a parking contravention. 
2. Parking firms can only obtain keeper data for parking events, which currently includes issuing charges in ‘no stopping’ zones such as airports. They rely on contract law, with the only rules being those set in their self-authored code of practice. Apart from relevant consumer law which always applies in trader/consumer situations, no legislation is currently mandatory. Even utilising the Schedule 4 ‘right to keeper liability’ in their notices is optional, which can be very useful if disputing a charge and a motorist can see the difference. We’ll explain this later in the guide. 
3. For local authorities, the reason behind such penalties is mainly intended to keep traffic flowing and to encourage compliance with prohibitions and rules such as Blue Badge bays, permit areas and tariffs. Restrictions can also act to encourage more sustainable travel choices as well as to fund it, because income from council parking penalties is ring-fenced by UK law for specified traffic related purposes, e.g. bus/cycling schemes, concessionary travel passes, etc. No such safeguards exist to restrict parking firms and their code ‘allows’ the industry to pursue up to £170 per PCN in areas where the equivalent council penalty would have been £50. 
4. For parking contraventions, council rules require (except in certain circumstances where it’s not possible) the first notice to be affixed to the windscreen for the driver to find on the day. In England & Wales, there is also a ban on using cameras for most parking enforcement in the Deregulation Act 2015. No such safeguards exist at the present time to similarly restrict parking operators from camera use and this partly explains why the data released to parking firms continues to skyrocket. 
5. Where parking is ‘decriminalised’ (that’s almost everywhere in England these days) council penalties can be appealed to a properly independent tribunal and cannot damage your credit rating, although a council can enforce a PCN after issuing an Order for Recovery. No such safeguards exist in the private parking landscape. Some operators make regular use of the county courts and your credit rating will be affected if you do not defend a claim and receive a judgment which you don’t pay. Ministry of Justice statistics published on page 61 of the 2023 draft impact assessment by government policymakers suggest that up to half a million parking court claims are now made every year, which would equate to around a third of all small claims. 

It's worth knowing how to avoid being hit with parking charges in the first place and how to avoid the first notice that you receive from a private operator or debt collector being already inflated to an eye-watering £170. 

We've put together some simple tips to avoid the most common pitfalls we hear about: 

• This logbook tip is vital to add to your ‘to-do list’ when moving: make sure your address on your V5C is immediately updated as a priority if you move house. It’s not enough to update your driving licence, as that isn’t the data used to issue PCNs. All too often, a house move can see people get a county court judgment (‘CCJ’) months/years later, if a parking operator issues a court claim relying on an old address. Even if you avoid a CCJ, the first letter will be inflated to £170 and it’s far from simple to get either type of PCN reissued at the original rate. Even worse, you could miss hearing about a police Notice of Intended Prosecution for speeding and be in even hotter water. 
• If you sell the vehicle, always ask for proof of the buyer’s details and keep a note of their name and address on a receipt that you both sign and date. Then follow the procedure shown in our V5C guide linked above, in case the buyer gets an early PCN. 
• Keep your ‘pay and display’ tickets for months, just in case. This is particularly important to avoid getting stung by a private PCN that arrives by post weeks later. Even if you’ve made a typo or the machine didn’t print your vehicle registration mark (‘VRM’) correctly, showing the ticket with a minor ‘keying error’ can see a PCN cancelled on appeal. Ideally, don’t let your friend or your kids press the buttons on the machine and if you’re unsure of your vehicle’s VRM, take a photo of it to read as you type. 
• Be especially careful when selecting the right location code and the right vehicle when using a parking app. They default to the last vehicle you paid for and may display location names that look like the car park you’re in but will cause you to end up with a PCN due to mistakenly paying the council for the street outside, instead. 
• Be aware that private operators using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras currently calculate your time of arrival as the moment you passed their cameras at the entrance to the car park. If you pay for a ticket it will print with a later time but you cannot safely rely on that if it took you more than five minutes to drive in, find a space and pay. This should be addressed by statutory regulation in future but right now it’s still a potential pitfall for paying drivers, despite the ‘5 minute rule’ change to the private parking industry’s code which was announced at the beginning of 2025. If in doubt, pay for an extra hour (those fees are usually retained by the landowner) or leave early. 
• If you have it, keep your dash-cam footage for a few weeks if for example, you drove into a camera-enforced private car park, looked for a space and couldn’t find one, then left. If that takes you more than five minutes you can expect a PCN, as things currently stand. Your dash-cam footage can prove that you didn’t park. 
• Sounds all too obvious but always read parking operator signs before leaving your car, particularly in what may appear to be a free restaurant, pub or hotel car park. Very often there is a hoop to jump through to be exempted, such as inputting your VRM into a keypad that the busy staff may not remember to bring to your attention. It’s not easy to successfully appeal this after the event, as things currently stand. 
• Take photo evidence on the day if something goes wrong, e.g. if the machines are broken or if your vehicle is stranded at a retail park awaiting breakdown rescue. While you wait, ask staff to add the car to the daily 'exemption' / visitor list and take a photo of their screen as evidence. You may have to see a manager and insist. Some motorists previously hit by a private PCN tell us that they even take photos just to evidence that they did everything right on a near-daily basis, for example by taking an image of the ‘success’ VRM keypad screen at their gym due to the lack of receipt. 

If you get a PCN from a council on your vehicle windscreen, please refer to the appeals guidance in this guide because that procedure is set in stone, with no handy alternative tips. 

However, if you get a PCN from a private parking operator, here are the steps to take first: 

1. Before contacting anyone, always check that a windscreen PCN is from a member of the BPA or IPC Approved Operator Scheme (‘AOS’): see the detailed appeals guide below for links to those two lists. It’s rare, and do check all possible name connotations, but if your parking firm is not an AOS member, they can’t get your registered keeper data and can never write to you...unless you hand them your name and address by rushing to appeal early. 
2. If the first notice is a windscreen PCN from an AOS member and you feel that it’s unfair, take immediate photo evidence. Get evidence of things like obscured or unlit signs, broken machines or snow covering bay lines, or something that caused you to be delayed, such as a breakdown. Keep your evidence, in case you need it later. 
3. We say ‘if you need it later’ because the first thing to do with an unfair windscreen PCN, if you’re in a private car park with retail or business units, is to march in with the PCN and complain to the manager. They can often cancel a PCN on the spot. 
4. If you get a postal PCN from a private firm, again gather your evidence, being careful not to incur a second PCN by returning to the site. Always try the landowner or retailer complaint while there, and certainly before embarking on any appeal. Often, a private operator will not cancel if they’ve spent time and money on an appeal stage but you may be pleasantly surprised how successful this tip is, when tried early after receipt of a private PCN by post. In fact, it’s never too late to try the retailer/landowner complaint route, so try it now even if you’re at a later stage. 
5. If the on-site businesses (try them all, even if you were just browsing in their store and have no receipt from that day) say that they “can’t cancel the PCN because they don’t own the car park”, ask them for the contact details of the site agent. If that is refused, walk over to the site entrance because in the case of a retail or business park, the property agent that runs the location and contracted with the parking operator is very often identified on the welcome sign. Not the parking sign, the large one that lists the retail units in bright font often has the property agent underneath. Ring or email them and politely complain, saying how much you used to like shopping/eating at their establishments but can’t afford to, if risking £100 ‘fines’. 
6. If the PCN is particularly unjustified but your complaints are getting nowhere or you’re vulnerable and feel you need help to handle this matter, ask your constituency MP to step in for you. Because the parking industry is facing imminent statutory regulation, this is a hot topic for Members of Parliament. You may be surprised by how proactive your MP is in trying to help you. Parking operators must reply to MPs promptly, so this contact is unlikely to be ignored. 
7. Prepare for appeal by reading the relevant code of practice and do some thorough online searching for news and other articles about PCNs issued at that place. It could be a well-known cash cow; recent news articles or social media posts might include useful information and may point to who can get the PCN cancelled. 
8. When it comes to appeal – full details in the next section – in most cases, appeal any private PCN as registered keeper only. This is because some parking operators either do not comply with the legislation to hold a keeper liable, or choose not to use it because it means they aren’t held to tight deadlines when issuing postal PCNs. In Scotland and Northern Ireland there’s currently no ‘keeper liability’ although in Scotland the legislation is in place for that to change when the parking industry comes under statutory regulation. On private land there is no lawful obligation to give the driver’s name and address nor for a keeper to say whether they were driving. 

Many authorities publish their PCN appeals policy and/or annual report outcomes that may include useful information, so do check online first. Knowing their PCN appeals policy will help you to make an informed decision. You may find that their discretionary cancellation policy is better than you’d expect. Some will cancel a PCN for the first oversight, e.g. for a disabled person with a Blue Badge.

You cannot normally challenge a PCN by telephone, so if you would struggle to access the options provided on the PCN and need an accessible format such as a phone call ask your council urgently and never miss deadlines. 

In a typical case with a windscreen Penalty Charge Notice, there is a three-stage process: 

Informal challenge 

If you disagree with a local authority windscreen PCN, any party (usually the driver, keeper or owner of the vehicle) can make what is called an ‘informal challenge’ within 28 days. Don’t pay a parking ticket that you’re appealing because you can’t do both. 

The deadline and how to make an appeal is explained on the back of your PCN, which will also offer a discounted payment period whereby the amount you pay is reduced by 50%. Most state that they will freeze the discount if your appeal is made to the council within the first 14 days (with day one being the date of the windscreen PCN). If so, there’s no reason not to appeal but don’t delay it and lose the discount option that you might be counting on because the PCN will then be at the full rate, should your appeal not be accepted. 

Supply truthful evidence that you think may help: an image of your permit, ‘pay and display’ ticket or Blue Badge if it slipped off the dash, for example. Or provide evidence that you were loading or unloading (i.e. the vehicle was attended for loading and not parked).

The civil enforcement officer may have been technically right to issue the PCN if they saw no evidence of exempt activity such as loading/unloading, but your evidence, such as a delivery note that matches the right time proving the driver was unloading to adjacent premises, can change the outcome in a case where such activity was not restricted by the signs and lines. 

Formal representations to the authority

If the first informal challenge is rejected you may still pay the PCN, and if the discount is frozen then you’ll have lost nothing by trying. If you still believe that the charge is wrong, you can only appeal further if you’re the owner/keeper. Await the Notice to Owner (‘NTO’) if you’re the registered keeper and plan to appeal (regardless of whether or not an informal challenge was made). There are also certain provisions for making representations where your vehicle was ‘on hire’, i.e. where you have a formal short-term hire agreement, providing the hire firm will agree to transfer liability to you as hirer. Some will just pay then bill you, so if unsure, speak to the hire firm and check your agreement with them. 

These are the only statutory grounds for making representations against a council PCN: 

1. The contravention did not occur. e.g. the contravention did not happen as stated on the Penalty Charge Notice or the prohibition was not properly signed. 
2. I was not the owner of the vehicle at the relevant time. e.g. you had sold the vehicle before, or bought it after, the date of the contravention. 
3. The vehicle was parked by someone in control of it without my consent. e.g. the vehicle was improperly parked after being stolen. 
4. The penalty charge exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case. i.e. the PCN was issued at a higher rate than would be correct for the contravention (see the council’s website for the PCN level for each contravention). 
5. The vehicle is owned by a hire firm. i.e. this allows a hire firm to transfer liability. 
6. There has been a procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority. i.e. a failure to observe any requirement of the enforcement law, such as a breach of a time limit. 
7. The Traffic Order allegedly contravened is invalid. i.e. the order which creates the contravention is invalid in some way. 
8. The civil enforcement officer was prevented by some person from fixing the penalty charge notice to the vehicle or handing it to the person in charge of the vehicle .This only applies where the PCN was sent to you by post because they say that someone prevented the civil enforcement officer from issuing the penalty charge notice at the scene. 
9. The penalty charge has already been paid. 

Information about appealing at this stage will be on the NTO and is also explained on your local council website. For more information, see the later section in this guide: What are valid grounds to appeal a PCN? If your PCN occurred in a UK council area outside of England and Wales, the routes for appeal are given here. 

Appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal or London Tribunals

This is the final stage in appealing a council PCN in England and Wales and by this time, the discount is no longer on offer. The same strict grounds for appeal apply as for step A2. This stage involves mutual submission of evidence, then a hearing in person or by phone. You should be prepared to accept the decision of the adjudicator at this final stage.

Once you’ve exhausted the first tip of complaining to the landowner/retailer (see ‘What to do if you receive a Parking Charge Notice from a private parking operator’) then you may decide to appeal your PCN. Ideally, don’t appeal first because that may prevent early landowner cancellation but keep an eye on the appeal deadlines. 

The deadline and how to make an appeal is explained on the back of your PCN, which will also offer a discounted payment period whereby the amount you pay is reduced by at least 40%. Most state that they’ll freeze the discount if your appeal is made within the first 14 days, which should be taken to begin from the date of the notice, which doesn’t give you long if the PCN has taken a week to reach you. 

It’s much more unusual, but if you find a windscreen PCN from a private operator first, either the driver, keeper or hirer can appeal at this early stage or, as long as you are the keeper, you may decide to wait to see if a Notice to Keeper (a postal PCN) arrives, which would not be sooner than a month later. Appeal will still be offered but the discount may not be, given that a discount was offered to the driver on the windscreen PCN. This may not matter to you if you believe that this PCN is unfair and as a matter of principle, you won’t be paying it. 

With a typical private postal Parking Charge Notice, there is a two-stage process:  

First stage

If you disagree with a postal parking charge notice, check whether the issuers are members of the BPA or the IPC. They will be members of one or the other ATA because they have obtained your data. Even though there’s a Joint Code of Practice now, it’s fairly new and differences are likely to be seen during a period of transition. For charges from an operator which is a BPA Approved Operator Scheme member, the driver or the keeper can appeal within 28 days. If the operator is a member of the IPC Approved Operator Scheme, read the PCN early because it might still say that appeals must be made within 21 days. Unless it states otherwise, assume that the appeal window stated – either 21 or 28 days – begins on the date of the notice, even though you will have received it much later. 

Don’t pay a parking ticket that you’re appealing because you can’t do both. The deadline and how to make an appeal is explained on the back of your PCN and some private operators state that the discount is frozen if your appeal is made within the first 14 days (with day one being the date of the windscreen PCN). However, some do not state that. 

As with council appeals, do supply truthful evidence that you think may help: an image of a permit, ‘pay and display’ ticket or Blue Badge if it slipped off the dash, for example. Other evidence could be photographs evidencing poor signage or proof that the driver was authorised to park.

You can reference a breach of the code of practice and/or point out if you (as keeper) think that the Notice to Keeper didn’t comply with Schedule 4 and so you believe that you can’t be held liable. Non-compliance with Schedule 4 doesn’t make a PCN void because they can still pursue the driver but only if the operator knows their details. 

Second stage

The second stage of appeal currently involves either Parking on Private Land Appeals (‘POPLA’ which is the BPA’s appeals service) or the Independent Appeals Service (‘the IAS’) which is the IPC equivalent. There is concern that neither are fully independent, given that both are paid for and supplied by the industry themselves. 

You don’t have to use either, and because it’s an invoice not a penalty regime, you don’t ‘have’ to pay the PCN if you try these services and are unsuccessful. They’re binding on parking firms but not on consumers. Even if you lose, if you’re certain the charge is unfair, you have the right to defend a case in court if you choose to do so. The only purported exception to this is the IAS’ alternative ‘non-standard appeal’ which costs a consumer £15 and they say that motorists are bound by its decisions. It’s worth considering that IAS annual reports in recent years revealed that motorists win adjudicated appeals in only 5% of cases. 

Your POPLA or IAS appeal can rely on any points you wish, whether or not they were in your first appeal. Both are usually completed online but there’s an option to appeal by post if you need to do it that way. Keep proof of posting. 

Reading IAS or POPLA annual reports before appealing can be useful, especially the latter which currently provides some information about assessed appeals broken down by operator, although POPLA provides far more report information than the IAS. Also look for relevant clauses that you may wish to quote from the joint code of practice. Best not to use a phone for this: using a laptop to search the code for a keyword, e.g. ‘signs’ can reveal lots of useful pointers.

Not all PCNs are unfair. Where a fee or tariff is payable to park, this should be paid and for the avoidance of doubt, we are not suggesting that people should be allowed to park wherever they like. 

An unfair charge from a private operator might involve a disabled or elderly person accused of ‘overstay’ which a 2010 BBC article identified is likely to breach equality law. Another example of unfairness is that ANPR systems can default to ‘first in, last out’ images in a 24-hour period, causing a PCN to be wrongly issued when all you did was visit the same site twice.

Motorists point to unclear signs, faulty apps or machines and covert camera surveillance as unfair, or the simple fact that £100 is a heinous ‘penalty’ for residents penalised 10 times over for not having a permit that their lease doesn’t require, or patrons of a gym or hotel finding out too late about a hidden VRM keypad. 

For private PCNs you can appeal on any grounds, including at the second stage. 

If you’ve only appealed at the first stage as the registered keeper, if you haven’t done this check already: look at the detail: was the PCN served in time for keeper liability (by day 14)? Is the wording compliant with paragraph 8 or 9 of Schedule 4 (linked in ‘What is a Parking Charge Notice’)? If you find this or the process of appealing difficult, online forums and some dedicated private PCN social media groups can assist.

While they can help you to focus on the main points to win your appeal, do be mindful of the possibility of misinformation. You may discover that the postal PCN is fully compliant, in which case that allows you to appeal without being concerned about mentioning who was driving, and you can then focus on a different appeal point, such as unclear signs, or a failure to comply with a clause in the industry’s code of practice. 

The limited grounds for appealing a council PCN are listed in our ‘How to Appeal’ section and are also summarised here by London Tribunals, which decides appeals against local authority PCNs in London boroughs. Further information on the appeals process is here from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, which decides motorists' appeals against PCNs issued in England (outside London) and Wales.

Altogether, it’s likely to take several weeks or even months to get a final decision. You have either 21 or 28 days to appeal a PCN (see the back of the PCN), and a parking operator has up to 35 days to reply but this does not make the PCN void if it takes longer. 

At second stage, if you use the IAS and the operator decides not to withdraw and accept your appeal, it can be delayed by a protracted exchange of evidence and rebuttals which can be quite time-consuming.

POPLA can typically take up to three months: 28 days may be taken for POPLA to send your appeal to the operator, then the operator has a further 21 days to either accept your appeal (they can withdraw) or to provide their evidence, which you then have seven days to comment on, before then waiting for the final assessment. 

There is no statutory period for a council to reply to an informal challenge but in practice, most will respond within weeks rather than months. Then it can take further months to wait for the NTO to arrive before you can try formal representations.

A council has up to 56 days to respond to formal representations against a Penalty Charge Notice.

Finally, if you still wish to challenge the PCN you can follow the steps on the rejection letter to try independent adjudication.  

It’s free if using POPLA or the standard version of the IAS because this was a requirement imposed at the time of Schedule 4. Keeper liability was granted in 2012 (England and Wales only at the moment), and in exchange the industry had to put in place a free right of appeal for keepers that did not restrict the service to drivers only. 

As mentioned in the ‘How to Appeal’ section, the ‘non-standard’ IAS costs an appellant £15 and while we cannot advise you what to do for your own PCN, it’s worth knowing that IAS annual reports have shown that an average of just 5% of adjudicated decisions in recent years have gone in favour of the motorist. 

It’s a fundamental principle that appealing a PCN is free to appellants of council PCNs.  

If your appeal to a private operator, POPLA or the IAS fails then you must decide whether to pay or not. You can still try a landowner complaint or contacting your MP. Motorists who find the demands excessive and/or disagree with the appeal decision often resolve to defend a court claim if one arrives.

If you’ve already defended a claim (England and Wales), it’s worth knowing that a new Mediation Service stage offers a telephone call to discuss settlement if you wish to make a low offer. While this guide doesn’t cover court claims/defences, mediation is seen as useful in a case where you would have paid the PCN if you had received it.

If that doesn’t work to resolve your case, the facts and legal arguments will be considered by a judge at a final hearing. Enforcement agents (previously known as bailiffs) can only come knocking if you don’t pay after receiving a court judgment against you. 

If you appeal to a council and your appeal fails after having taken it as far as you felt able to try, then you should pay it because there’s no further route to be heard.

If you don’t pay then it will increase to cover the costs of enforcing the PCN: ultimately, enforcement agents (previously known as bailiffs) can come knocking at your door. 

It’s increasingly common for motorists to receive debt demands (in 2025 these can be up to £170) very quickly in private parking cases, especially since the new self-authored industry code of practice was introduced and dropped the safeguard of two reminder letters that were mandatory in all previous iterations of the BPA code. Currently, parking firms and debt recovery agents (DRAs) are seen to be increasing PCNs after just 28 days because the industry code allows it. 

At pre-court stage the DRAs are not acting as enforcement agents (previously called bailiffs). Rest assured: nobody can come and clamp your car before a court judgment. You must certainly contact the DRA and parking firm if you move house with a private PCN still hanging over you, because it’s unsafe to risk a claim form going to an old address. 

Is it worth contacting the DRA otherwise? Well, their letters invariably say that they will not hear late appeals but if you have compelling evidence that the PCN was not properly issued you may wish to send that, in an attempt to resolve the dispute. However, the main purpose of a DRA is to make you pay up and motorists have reported intimidating phone calls, so it’s not surprising that many people will not engage with them.

The DRAs offer what they call ‘payment plans’ that to a neutral observer appear to only be needed due to the added £70 per PCN ‘fee’ that the Ministerial Foreword introducing the (now withdrawn) statutory Private Parking Code of Practice in 2022 found to be a case of ‘extorting money from motorists’. 

At the time of writing this guide in February 2025, it remains to be seen how the Government will view debt recovery fees. The RAC has publicly stated that it sincerely hopes that such enhancements will be banned. 

While you can get free debt advice from charities such as StepChange, National Debtline and Citizens Advice motorists with ‘unfair/unjustified’ or perhaps multiple charges (typically incurred at their own residential car park through what they see as no fault of their own) tell us that they don’t feel that they owe a ‘debt’ and would rather let a judge decide. 

Receiving a solicitor’s letter is a common feature of the DRA letter-chains. In many cases after closer examination these prove to be more of the same type of debt demands so look at the heading. In England and Wales, if you receive a ‘letter before claim’ or ‘letter of claim’ from a solicitor then it should be taken to signal that litigation will follow. Even if you have ignored the series of colourful DRA letters, you should reply to a LBC/LoC. 

This guide does not constitute legal advice but should you receive a claim form and decide to defend it, you should check if you already have free legal advice. You may be fortunate enough to have legal cover as part of your home or car insurance policy or even as a perk through your place of work or union membership. RAC members also have access to a free legal helpline.

Many university law faculties offer free legal advice during the winter and spring months so this is worth exploring if you have a letter of/before claim and certainly if you’ve already received a claim form because there will be limited time to respond.  

It’s important to be aware that some parking firms can and do take cases to court. Never ignore a claim form (England Wales) which currently would come from the Civil National Business Centre in Northampton. We understand that these can arrive in an ordinary envelope, not posted ‘signed-for’ and can be easily overlooked as if it’s just another debt letter. 

In Scotland there’s no ‘keeper liability’ law yet and claims are reportedly rare from parking operators, but if you have received letters mentioning the ‘simple procedure’ we recommend that you seek legal advice in Scotland. If you’re in Northern Ireland, there’s detailed advice about private parking charges on the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland website here. 

Can I be held liable for a PCN as the registered keeper, even if I wasn't driving? 

With council PCNs yes, the register keeper/owner is the liable party once a PCN reaches NTO stage. In England and Wales, yes you can be liable as keeper for parking on private land even if you were not driving, but only if the parking operator has complied with Schedule 4 (see the link at the start of this guide). 

Is the PCN situation different in Scotland and/or NI? 

Yes, it’s different. There’s no keeper liability law in Scotland or Northern Ireland at the time of writing this guide in 2025. However, in Scotland, a version of Schedule 4 was included in the Transport Act but that section is not yet in force and is on hold, pending statutory regulation of the private parking industry. 

Is the advice in this PCN guide different if I was using a hired, company or lease car? 

Yes, and this is covered in the ‘how to appeal’ section of the guide. If you get a windscreen PCN that you think is unfair then as hirer you may be best to appeal it straight away, to stop any letters from going to the lease/hire company. Even if you’ve not had a PCN, if you hire/lease your vehicle or use a company car, you may wish to carefully read your hire or company car agreement now, to see what the policy is. Many fleets just pay and expect their client to foot the bill plus a hefty ‘admin fee’, denying the client any right to appeal a typical parking charge notice issued by post. You can’t appeal if they pay it. 

We’re the ‘keeper’ but we’re a company/fleet operator; what are our options when appealing a PCN? 

If you’re a member of the BVRLA, we suggest your company checks out their latest updates regarding the transfer of liability provision that is included in the 2024 BPA and IPC Code of Practice. You may wish to seek your own legal advice.