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I'm very confused as Surrey county council use a chatbot to challenge. When I looked up the status previously it said it had been rejected and they were sending a NtO. I've just gone back on there and it said the status was active because the challenge had either been returned to me or not delivered but it won't specify which. I've challenged it again but there's no actual correspondence about the first one. That doesn't seem right?

Thank you both for responding! I'm absolutely willing to go to tribunal over this out of principle.

Here are the images from the PCN

Unfortunately after measuring the tiny lines they are over 5mm wide, but if you post at the other end of the bay, it's physically impossible for a car to fit in the 'designated space', see image link below:

https://imgpile.com/p/VqY61PZ

Does this mean they are expecting people not to use the full extent of the bay to be inside the lines? Surely that doesn't make sense.

I did manage to find this online but it says 'should' so maybe it's useless?

'Parking space dimensions: Designs should adhere to the following standards:

On street parallel parking: 2.0m x 6.0m, disabled parking space is a minimum of 2.7 m x 6.6m (preferably 3.6m x 6.6m).'


I also checked the interactive parking map but it was last updated in 2024 and also I'm not sure if the legend info is actually unhelpful to me in this instance as it says parking bays OR no road markings.

Finally on this page, Surrey county council says to refer to DFT parking guide. In pages 50 and 51 (see image) there are examples of both individual spaces and a continuous parking bay. The tiny lines do not match the demarcations for the individual bays.

I have drafted something to challenge it, any comments/suggestions/amendments are welcome, especially the bit about cars not fitting in their supposed spaces as I'm struggling to articulate what I mean. I will be attaching the photo above as evidence though.



Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: PCN Number: RR04349676 - Vehicle Registration FP61 ENX
Issued: 20 January 2026 / Location: Margaret Road

I am writing to formally challenge the above Penalty Notice.

I have been a resident of Margaret Road for 2.5 years and have been parking here for 1.5 years after passing my driving test in August 2024. I have parked in the electric bay numerous times and have never been issued a ticket prior, nor have I been aware that there were designated spots which needed to be parked inside due to the continuous marking line outside the bay which says electric vehicles only. I parked in good faith and my vehicle was not outside of the continuous marking line, nor was it causing obstruction to other road users or pedestrians. There is no signage indicating designated spots within the EV area. The markings do not provide proper spacing to fit all vehicles, as shown by the attached image at the other end of the EV area. If these were to be followed as designated spots, this would make the space between the other end of the EV area and the first marking redundant. Based on pages 50 and 51 of Department for Transport's 'Know your traffic signs' guidance, as signposted on https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/roads-and-transport/parking/restrictions-and-controls#restrictions, this parking area would qualify as a continuous parking bay, and does not have sufficient markings to be considered individual bays.

Let me know if you think I should refer to the interactive parking map or parking space dimensions info!