Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs)

Chatbox Max

In order to support driver’s with the online appeals process, we have introduced Chatbot Max, an interactive tool which will help you decide if you should make a representation against a parking or moving contravention and which supporting evidence you should be including.

Supported on Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge you can obtain advice 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.You will be required to provide simple information such as the Penalty Charge Notice Number, contravention code and the reason why you want to make a representation. It is likely that you may be asked further questions, which will enable Chatbot Max to give you tailored information.

The benefit of using Chatbot Max is that it can provide information to you instantly, where you will be informed and can save time by then deciding whether you wish to pay or continue making a representation knowing what evidence you would need to provide. It is available in multiple languages and can even write your appeal for you and send it to you via email.

Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) are issued when a vehicle is in contravention of parking, bus lane or moving traffic regulations within our borough. 

You should allow 24 hours from the issue date of the PCN for us to enter it into our online system.

Our online system will also let you view any photographic evidence of the contravention that we have.

Who can appeal

• you can appeal a PCN if you’re the registered keeper of the vehicle on the DVLA database
• the registered keeper may also email or write to us to advise that they have appointed a representative to deal with the matter on their behalf - only then will we correspond with the named representative

If you’ve received a PCN for someone who doesn’t live at your address

You are required to notify the DVLA to tell them to amend their records and provide you with proof that you are not the registered keeper.

How to appeal

There are different options for different types of PCNs.

To appeal any of them, you’ll need:

• your Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) number
• your vehicle registration number 

You may be able to keep the early payment discount when you appeal

You have to pay a PCN within 28 days of its issue date, but you do get a 50% discount if you pay within 14 days (21 days for PCNs issued on the basis of a record produced by a CCTV unit or other approved device). 

If you appeal during the discount period, you will still be able to pay the discounted amount if your appeal is unsuccessful.

Appeal a parking or bus lane contravention PCN

You can make an informal appeal for:

• parking PCNs, commonly known as parking tickets
• bus lane convention PCNs, where a vehicle has driven within a bus lane during restricted hours

You can make an informal appeal against a PCN up to 28 days after its issue date. If you wait longer than this, you can only make a formal appeal.

You cannot make an informal appeal against moving traffic contravention PCNs, but you still can make a formal appeal.

Make an informal appeal online

You can also appeal by post

You can appeal by sending a signed and dated letter to:

Sutton Parking Services at Civic Offices
St Nicholas Way
Sutton
SM1 1EA

We will let you know the outcome of your informal appeal in writing

We will inform you in writing of the outcome of your appeal. If it is accepted, you do not have to pay the fine. 

If it is rejected, we will let you know how much time you have left to pay, and whether the discount still applies.

Make a formal appeal

We send a reminder to the keeper of the vehicle if the PCN becomes overdue

A PCN needs to be paid within 28 days of its issue date, unless you have made an informal appeal against it. If the appeal has been unsuccessful, you will be notified in writing and told how long you have to pay. If the PCN does not get paid within the statutory period of time, we will send a reminder to the keeper of the vehicle. For parking PCNs, this reminder is called a notice to owner (NtO), for bus lane convention PCNs it is an enforcement notice (EF).

Once you have received the reminder, you can pay or make a formal appeal

The NtO and EF will give you two options: you can either pay the PCN, or make a formal appeal. You have 28 days to do either. 

The documents explain what you need to include in a formal appeal.

Make a formal appeal online

Make a formal appeal online

You can also appeal by post

You can complete the NtO or the EF document and return this to us by post, or you can send a signed and dated letter detailing your formal appeal. 

The address for either is:

Sutton Parking Services at Civic Offices
St Nicholas Way
Sutton
SM1 1EA

We will let you know the outcome of your formal appeal in writing

We will inform you in writing of the outcome of your appeal. If it is accepted, you do not have to pay the fine. 

If it is rejected, we will send you a Notice of Rejection. You then have 28 days to either pay the fine or to appeal to an independent adjudicator.

Appeal to an independent adjudicator

You can appeal to an independent adjudicator if:

• you have received a PCN from us, and
• you have made a formal appeal against that PCN, and
• you have received a notice of rejection from us

How to appeal to the adjudicator

You will need to contact the Environment and Traffic Adjudicators (ETA) and ask them to adjudicate in this matter. The notice of rejection we sent you will explain how you can do this.

The ETA will let you know when the case will be heard. 

You can attend in person, or the case can be heard in your absence. You will not incur any additional costs by using the ETA.

What happens after the hearing

If the adjudicator decides that the PCN is valid, you will be given another 28 days to pay the PCN.

The ETA’s decision is binding for both parties and there is no right to appeal.

Charge certificates - what happens if a PCN remains unpaid or ignored

A charge certificate is an advisory notice we send out when the fine for a PCN has become overdue.

The fine will be increased by 50% at this point. There is no right to appeal.

You have 14 days to pay after receiving a charge certificate.

If you do not pay within these 14 days, we will register the debt at County Courts for a summons. 

This will then be passed on to the council’s enforcement agents. They are entitled to collect the outstanding fine plus any legitimate costs they have incurred.

If you want to pay once your case has been passed to the Enforcement Agent, you will have to pay them directly.

A charge certificate is issued when any of these conditions are met:

• you have neither paid nor appealed against a PCN within the statutory period
• we have rejected your informal appeal against the PCN and you have neither paid nor appealed within the statutory period
• we have sent you a notice of rejection and you have neither paid nor appealed within the statutory period
• the adjudicator has decided that the PCN is valid and you have not paid within the statutory period

Freedom of Information requests

We won’t be able to process any requests for additional information as part of your appeal. You’ll need to make a freedom of information request.