01900 702702
 01900 702507

Allerdale Borough Council,
Allerdale House,
Workington,
Cumbria,
CA14 3YJ

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What is this for?

The Appeals Process

An owner who receives a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and believes they were legally parked can make a challenge against the issue of the PCN to the Council.

If you are going to challenge the issue of the penalty, you must do so within 14 days from the date of its issue.  We ask also that you do not make payment at this time.  The penalty will be held at the lower rate  whilst the challenge is being considered. If your challenge is unsuccessful you will be given a further period of time to pay at the lower rate.

The Traffic Management Act  sets out the  grounds  on which you can make the challenge.

These are the only legal grounds for claiming that the parking ticket was incorrectly issued:

  • 1.  The alleged contravention did not occur
  • 2.  The penalty exceeded the relevant amount
  • 3.  The traffic order was invalid
  • 4.  You were not the owner/keeper of the vehicle at the time of the contravention
  • 5.  The vehicle had been taken without consent
  • 6.  You are a hire firm, and have supplied the name of the person hiring the vehicle.
  • 7.  There has been a procedural impropriety
  • 8.  The traffic order concerned is invalid
  • 9.  The notice should not have been served because the PCN has already been paid

The council will however consider challenges for other reasons (mitigating circumstances) and if you have sufficient grounds, the Council will cancel the PCN and no payment will be required.

You can complete fully online form for a challenge against a penalty charge notice, or you can download a form, both are linked from the bottom of this page.

If the Council rejects the challenge, the owner is still not satisfied and does not make appropriate payment, then the owner need do nothing else.  The council will send out a Notice To Owner (NTO), after 28 days from the date the Penalty Charge Notice was issued.  The owner of the vehicle should return the NTO to make formal representation against the PCN.  If the representation is rejected, a rejection letter will be sent to the owner together with details on how the owner can appeal against the decision to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT). An adjucator, independent of the council, will deal with the appeal by post or, if the owner requests, at a personal hearing. The adjudicator's ruling is final.

If payment is made at either the discounted or normal amount and the motorist challenges the PCN, and the challenge is rejected, then the case is considered as being closed.  If the motorist then wishes to take the case to TPT they must write to the council asking for the case to be reopened.  The money paid will be refunded and after the 28 day period a NTO will be sent.


Electronic forms

Electronic forms can be completed and submitted online, with no paper involved, which is not only our preferred method; it's kinder to the environment as well.

Downloadable Documents

All documents open in a new window.

File name

Size

Download time

Microsoft Word formatChallenge against the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice in Word format405 Kb1 min 56 secs @ 28.8k, 58 secs @ 56k
Adobe PDF format - download the viewerChallenge against the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice in PDF format28 Kb8 secs @ 28.8k, 4 secs @ 56k

Get Adobe Acrobat ReaderDownload Acrobat PDF Reader (external website). Acrobat PDF Reader allows you to view PDF files.

Get Microsoft Word ViewerDownload Microsoft Word Viewer (external website). Microsoft Word Viewer allows you to view Word documents even if you don't have Word installed on your computer.

Contact Information

For more information please contact Parking Services.

Telephone Number 01900 702850

last updated Tuesday, November 25, 2008