Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Civil penalty charge notices (Councils, TFL and so on) => Topic started by: towerhamlets on March 15, 2026, 10:04:26 pm
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OK, you received no rejection letter from the council in response to your informal challenge, only an NtO turn-up at your girlfriend's address as she is the owner of the car as per the V5C.
Main point to make is that as owner she has legal responsibility for payment or appealing of the PCN. She can now either pay the NtO which is for the full amount, or can submit representations along the same lines as you submitted, or she can authorise you to act on her behalf, but still retains legal responsibility. One point to be added to the formal representation is non-receipt of a response to the informal challenge.
As the amount is now £160, there is no point at all in paying now. Submit reps along the same lines as the original submission, pointing out none of the guests could make payment using their phones, indicating a major fault with the payment method imposed by the council. Point out also the circumstances were such (funeral starting shortly), that alternative parking could not possibly be sought and also that payment was attmepted several times but the system would not accept payment or indeed, work at all.
If they respond by rejecting, but re-offer the discount, you will have to decide whether to pay-up, or take them to London Tribunals. If no re-offer of the discount, it becomes a total no-brainer to take them to London Tribunals, because the penalty remains the same (£160), and there are no additional costs. If she wins, she pays nothing, if she loses, she must pay the £160.
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PCN - actual ticket may be lost. here is the online copy https://imgpile.com/p/w98cYAf
Location - https://maps.app.goo.gl/k4EFiH4iUCuASNK26
Girlfriend's mums funeral 23/12, my sister parked our car near the church. Spent several minutes trying to pay via phone. She says "Each time it appeared that the phone call was answered, but the line was silent. I tried to press buttons to get options to come up but it was only silence." She gave up so as not to be late. No app or other payment options on the sign. PCN placed on car about 5 mins later when we were in church. Other attendees said they had similar problem with no response on the line.
She appealed this explaining the above including screenshots of the calls to the number, and got a generic response “Although you tried to pay for parking by phone or online, your payment did not go through. This can happen when drivers make a mistake or when their card is not accepted. It is unfortunate if this happened with you, but drivers can only park if the transaction is successful.”
She then sent a written submission. It seems this was received by the council as on the PCN history online, they have reopened the challenge on 5/2, but then on 27/2 they send a Notice to Owner. Addressed to my partner as it's her name on the V5C. Hadn't bothered her with the story so far so obviously this was stressful for her on opening the letter.
Anyway, I intend to make another written submission now. I'm not sure what mandatory grounds the phone line failure might fall under. I will state funeral attendance as mitigating circumstance. Can I use the fact they did not respond to the second appeal??
Thank you for any help
PCN history from council website:
27/02/2026 06:56:51 Notice to Owner Issued
26/02/2026 14:45:50 Correspondence Letter
26/02/2026 14:43:55 Off Hold why haven't they written rejected or responded here?
05/02/2026 17:05:02 On Hold :Challenge Received (06/04/2026 ) this seems to be when they received the written submission
23/01/2026 10:11:22 Correspondence Letter
23/01/2026 10:06:16 Offer £80.00 until 10/02/2026
23/01/2026 10:06:12 Off Hold
23/01/2026 10:06:10 Challenge/Representation Rejected
23/12/2025 20:00:59 On Hold: Challenge Received (21/02/2026)
Only an NtO from 27/2 was received, no letter from the 26th