Free Traffic Legal Advice

Park outside parents in-law all the time and always display visitor permit but this particular morning, we didn't. Just a mistake probably kids kicking off or something.

Anyway. Informally appealed, was rejected. Now have NTO. - see below.

Although there is a 'Contact Us' button in the online portal. It is really not clear. Representations (particularly formal ones) have to be made in a particular way - and so not actually having a clear appeal process to me seems a pretty obvious procedural impropriety. It's possible to informally contact the council to enquire about the PCN for example without it having any bearing on the process. How is one to be sure they have submitted their appeal correctly when it doesn't actually say that on the website?


= = INFORMAL REPS = =

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am the registered keeper of vehicle **** ***. I wish to make informal representations against the above Penalty Charge Notice, issued on 13/08/2025 on Upland Road, Sutton.

Grounds

Incorrect contravention code
The PCN was issued under Code 12. However, the sign at the location states: “Permit holders (SS) parking only past this point, Mon–Fri 9–11 am, except in signed bays.” This is a permit holders only restriction, which falls under Code 16. Code 12 (residents’ or shared use bay) does not apply. Issuing the PCN under the wrong contravention amounts to a procedural impropriety.

Defective online appeal system
Sutton Council’s website states appeals can be made online. However, when selecting “Make informal appeal online,” the portal at https://suttonices.parkinguk.org/parking/ provides only options to view evidence, contact the council, or pay. There is no facility to submit an appeal. Screenshots are enclosed, and full screen recordings can be viewed here:
(link removed due to personal details in the video)
This situation is confusing and restricts motorists’ ability to exercise their right to appeal.

Mitigation
The vehicle was present solely to visit relatives in the zone. Visitor permits are routinely used. On this occasion, due to a sudden change of plan, the permit was inadvertently not displayed. This was an isolated oversight.

Evidence enclosed

Photograph of signage at Upland Road.

Screenshots of the website appeal process.

Link to full video recordings as above.

Request
For the reasons above, the keeper respectfully requests that this PCN be cancelled.

Yours faithfully,





= = = = = = = =

The page you linked to does indeed all look as you would expect.

However, that's Sutton's website. When you click either 'Make informal appeal online' or 'Make formal appeal online' you are re-directed to suttonices.parkinguk.org

Within there there are no references to appealing anywhere. The only button is 'Contact Us' - I've provided screenshots below.

I thought that it was a requirement for councils to make appealing online available. The NTO makes no mention of appealing online - does this imply they don't actually accept it?
And there is no facility to check the specific grounds as mentioned on the NTO through the online contact us section.

Just photos and nothing else. See screenshot




Honestly, I have never seen a PCN appeal platform like it. It doesn't match up with the main Sutton page. I don't think it's adequate and genuinely made me very confused. I dug out other email addresses and sent the informal reps as well as the portal as I wasn't convinced it was right.

On all other formal reps online appeals systems, I've had to select the 'grounds for challenge' check boxes. They simply don't exist on here. There is no difference between informal and formal appeals buttons. They both link to the same page / portal.