Free Traffic Legal Advice

These are the steps to be followed in a case where:

1) You have not received a postal PCN under the London Local Authorities and Transport for London Act 2003 or an Enforcement Notice under the London Local Authorities Act 1996, but
2) You have received a charge certificate issued under the London Local Authorities and Transport for London Act 2003 or the London Local Authorities Act 1996 (the name of the relevant Act will be on the charge certificate).

In this scenario, wait for the 14 day period stated on the charge certificate to expire, wait another week (but not a day more) and check whether the debt has been registered with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC).

For Transport for London cases, you can rely on the information shown on https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/challenge-a-pcn
For London Borough of Newham cases, you can check the amount due on https://parking.newham.gov.uk/pages/home.aspx
For London Borough of  Hounslow cases, check the "Key Events" tab on https://hounslow.tarantoportal.com/PCN
Once the debt has been registered with TEC, the PCN status / history will say so and the amount will increase by £10.

For all other cases, we cannot yet say how reliable the council websites are at showing the £10 increase, so the best approach is to simply call TEC on 0300 123 1059 (first thing in the morning if you want to avoid a long wait) and ask if your PCN has been registered (do not ask anything else, they cannot help you with any other query whatsoever).

If the PCN has not been registered with TEC, put a reminder in your calendar to call again after 7 / 10 days (not longer), repeat the process until the debt has been registered.

As soon as the debt has been registered, use form PE3 which you can download from here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-pe3-challenge-an-unpaid-penalty-charge-notice

You will need to fill in the form on your computer and then print it off (do not try and do this on your phone).

You need to tick the box next to:


Note: the "Applicant" is not you, it's the enforcement authority, you are the Respondent.

Important: you should leave the "reasons" box blank. Yes this is counter-intuitive, but if you fill it in the form might be rejected.

Do not sign the form yet!

You must sign the form in front of an officer of the county court (which is free, you just need to call ahead and ask for an appointment at their public counter), or you can ask to do this at any magistrates' court (which is also free but most magistrates' courts will be unfamiliar with the process so you will need to show them the part of the form where it says it can be witnessed by a justice of the peace), or many high street solicitors will do this for around £10 / £15.

You should then scan and attach the completed form to an email and send it to tec@justice.gov.uk , put the PCN number in the subject line, you should get an immediate automated acknowledgment.

If you get an Order for Recovery and form PE3 in the post shortly after you have emailed the duly complete PE3 form to TEC, you can ignore the copy delivered in the post as long as you have the acknowledgment email from the tec mailbox.

If you get an Order for Recovery and a printed PE3 form before you have emailed the sworn PE3 form to TEC, you should fill it in, get it sworn and email it to the tec mailbox as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please ask on your thread.