Heree is the mandatory content of a PCN under the The Road User Charging Schemes (Penalty Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013
(there is a later amendment of 2014, but no in the section I am posting here)
Penalty charge notice
7.—(1) Where a road user charge with respect to a motor vehicle under a charging scheme has not been paid by the time by which it is required by the charging scheme to be paid and, in those circumstances, the charging scheme provides for the payment of a penalty charge, the charging authority may serve a notice (a “penalty charge notice”).
(2) A penalty charge notice must be served on the registered keeper of the motor vehicle unless, in accordance with regulation 6, the penalty charge to which it relates is payable by another person, in which case the penalty charge notice must be served on that other person.
(3) A penalty charge notice must state—
(a)the date of the notice, which must be the date on which it is posted or sent by electronic transmission;
(b)the name of the charging authority;
(c)the registration mark of the motor vehicle to which it relates;
(d)the date and time at which the charging authority claims that the motor vehicle was used or kept on the designated road in circumstances in which, by virtue of a charging scheme, a road user charge was payable in respect of the motor vehicle;
(e)the grounds on which the charging authority believes that the penalty charge is payable with respect to the motor vehicle;
(f)the amount of penalty charge that is payable if the penalty charge is paid in full—
(i)within 14 days of the day on which the penalty charge notice is served;
(ii)after the expiry of such 14 day period but within 28 days of the day on which the penalty charge notice is
served;
(iii)after the service of a charge certificate;
(g)the manner in which the penalty charge must be paid and the address to which payment of the penalty charge must be sent;
(h)that the recipient of the penalty charge notice is entitled to make representations to the charging authority against the imposition of the penalty charge on any of the grounds specified in regulation 8(3);
(i)the address (including if appropriate any email address or fax telephone number, as well as the postal
address) to which such representations must be sent and the form in which they must be made;
(j)that the charging authority may disregard any such representations received by it more than 28 days after the
penalty charge notice was served; and
(k)in general terms, the form and manner in which an appeal to an adjudicator may be made.
I don't see anywhere on the pages of the PCN that has been posted, the amount as per 2 (f)(iii), the amount after a Charge Certificate is served.
It also seems inlawful to me to add in the amount of the road user charge to the penalty charge, because the charge is not collectable within the penalty charge amount. As put succinctly by Caroline Sheppard in the Luke MOran case:-
" There is no power in Regulation 7 for the PCN to require the road user charge to be paid in addition to the penalty charge."
and
"It is all very well to set out the amounts of the penalty charge, but the impact and effect of the
PCN is to demand an amount that is in excess of the penalty charge, and it implies that
payment of £38 or £73 is the only amount that will be accepted."
So adding on the road user charge to the penalty charge is a procedural impropriety.
There is also, of course, the 0870 phone number issue.
So, in summary, there are three things that are procedural improprieties on the PCN
1. Failure to show the amount after a CC is served
2. Asking for more than the penalty charge defined in Regulation 7
3. Using an o870 number meaning the council receive more money than allowed by law
