Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Civil penalty charge notices (Councils, TFL and so on) => Topic started by: KnockKnock on June 03, 2025, 12:28:10 am
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+1.
OP, do not confuse whether a sum is owed with HOW this may be recovered.
If you look at the PCN you'll see three pieces of legislation referred to at the top.
Transport Act - enables the Secretary of State to make regulations and empowers authorities to establish and set the contents of charging schemes which they do by way of Orders, in this case the...
Bristol Clean Air Zone.... which sets out the Ts and Cs of the scheme including the daily charges..but this then needs a mechanism to recover non-payment ..
..which is the regulations made by the Secretary of State.
The regs do not permit authorities to use their regulatory powers to recover unpaid daily charges.
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@KnockKnock they can put whatever they want in the charging scheme, but they cannot use The Road User Charging Schemes (Penalty Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1783/contents/) to enforce anything apart from the penalty charge itself.
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Date of PCN 7th May, deemed served Friday 9th, so you have missed the discount and have nothing to lose by making reps (in rejecting these, Bristol may re-offer discount), as long as you do not miss the deadline (Friday next, 6th.June).
Bristol are still asking for the toll as well as the penalty - this was a relevant point so wait for the experts to chip in, but do not miss deadline.
thank you John. This is another point that I have been looking at, however, I have found the following from
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1783/regulation/4/made (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1783/regulation/4/made)
Imposition of penalty charge
4.—(1) A charging scheme may provide that a penalty charge is to be imposed in respect of a motor vehicle where—
(a)the motor vehicle has been used or kept on a designated road;
(b)events have occurred by reference to the happening of which a road user charge is imposed by the charging scheme; and
(c)the road user charge has not been paid in full within the time and in the manner in which it is required by the charging scheme to be paid.
(2) A charging scheme may further provide that a penalty charge is to be imposed in respect of—
(a)the release of a motor vehicle from an immobilisation device fixed to it in accordance with regulation 25;
(b)the removal of a motor vehicle in accordance with regulation 27;
(c)the storage and release from storage of a motor vehicle so removed; and
(d)the disposal of a motor vehicle so removed in accordance with regulation 28.
(3) If a charging scheme so provides a penalty charge is to be payable.
(4) A charging scheme is to specify whether a penalty charge referred to in paragraph (1) or (2) is payable in addition to the road user charge or instead of such charge.
Under section 4 above, it looks like the Council ARE permitted to specify whether the charge can also be included.
@cp8759 - Would you be able to advise if this is correct please?
If that is the case, it looks like my grounds are very slim.
Thanks all
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For convenience:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1783/regulation/7/made
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.
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Well, here are the regulations: -
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1783/note/made
So have a read. Note what the mandated content of a PCN is, in Regulation 7
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Unfortunately, there is no time limit in the CAZ regulations for service of a PCN. The only limit is one of fairness, so a PCN served more then 2-3 months since the alleged contravention date cold be argued on this basis. As public bodies, councils are under a duty to act fairly and in the public interest under common law.
So I'm afraid the time they've taken to send out the PCN is not a slam-dunk win at appeal. Any reason for not paying the CAZ charge ? If you tell us more, there may be the bones of a reasonable appeal. In addition to this, Bristol put the CAZ toll onto the PCN as well as the penalty. There are no powers in the regulations for them to do this, so it is a procedural impropriety. However, you'll only get it tested at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, with the full PCN penalty in play.
Please also post the PCN.
hanks for your reply - I've reposted using Imgur as that may work better and hopefully you should be able to see it now?
Interestingly, the council system says the vehicle make and model is "Unknown" - If they don't know what it is, how can they know it's chargeable?
Reasons for being in the zone, essentially by mistake, I didn't even realise this road was in the zone. I'm sure they would argue there were signs up etc and I'm sure there are, but I genuinely wasn't aware I'd gone through until it was too late.
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Date of PCN 7th May, deemed served Friday 9th, so you have missed the discount and have nothing to lose by making reps (in rejecting these, Bristol may re-offer discount), as long as you do not miss the deadline (Friday next, 6th.June).
Bristol are still asking for the toll as well as the penalty - this was a relevant point so wait for the experts to chip in, but do not miss deadline.
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Unfortunately, there is no time limit in the CAZ regulations for service of a PCN. The only limit is one of fairness, so a PCN served more then 2-3 months since the alleged contravention date cold be argued on this basis. As public bodies, councils are under a duty to act fairly and in the public interest under common law.
So I'm afraid the time they've taken to send out the PCN is not a slam-dunk win at appeal. Any reason for not paying the CAZ charge ? If you tell us more, there may be the bones of a reasonable appeal. In addition to this, Bristol put the CAZ toll onto the PCN as well as the penalty. There are no powers in the regulations for them to do this, so it is a procedural impropriety. However, you'll only get it tested at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, with the full PCN penalty in play.
Please also post the PCN.
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Hi All,
So, after a trip to Bristol in April, the Keeper of this car (me) received a letter saying there was an unpaid CAZ Charge.
The letter was received on 13th May 2025.
The alleged contravention took place on the 1st April 2025, and the date of notice and posting was 7th May 2025, some 36 days later.
I have read through other cases here where people talk about 28 days being the permitted time for notice to be served but I can't confirm this, so essentially what I am asking is:
Is it ok that the council have taken 36 days to send this notice out? and even longer for me to actually get it
The circumstances for being in the zone on that day were not the best anyway, and this £69 charge really is a kick in the teeth.
I'm also aware the deadline to reply is approaching, so advice on what (if anything) can be done would be much appreciated.
Many thanks
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