Free Traffic Legal Advice

Thanks both.

Reckon anything needs to be done about the original parking company. Not heard anything from them in months.

I visited Glasgow a few weeks back and rented a car for the day. While driving through the town centre, I had to make a quick decision on a junction. I decided to return to check if I had made a mistake worried I'd be sent a PCN months later at an inflated price. A long time ago that is what happened to me with the rental company dragging their heels, paying and then passing on the bill to me. A day later I called Glasgow council to check if any tickets had been issued to the rental. Of course I only had the reg as a reference. The lady affirmed that there was a ticket, and I went ahead and paid worried that it would escalate with the rental company. Anyway, a called back shortly after to just confirm that everything was paid up and the balance cleared, the agent mentioned that it had but the date quoted was well before the date I had rented the car. I have since requested a refund but they do not seem keen and at the point of writing, have ignored my last email which was sent to them 3 weeks ago.

Please see email correspondence linked below:

28 Oct 2025

Dear Glasgow Parking Services,

I telephoned your office today on 0141 287 4040 to check whether any penalty charges had been issued against vehicle registration WR25 ZKX for the period 12:00 on 26/10/25 to 20:00 on 27/10/25.

During the call, I was advised that there was one penalty charge for driving in a bus lane (£50). I asked if I could pay it immediately to prevent escalation, and I was transferred to the automated payment line where I made payment with the following details:

Authorisation code: 666052

Reference: xxxxx

After payment, I requested to be transferred back in order to confirm whether there were any additional penalties. I was then informed that there was "just the one dated 20th October." However, I could not confirm whether this meant:

The payment I made was for the penalty dated 20th October, or

There remains an additional outstanding penalty from that date.

Due to the poor line quality, I was unable to obtain clarity and therefore decided to follow up by email.

For the avoidance of doubt, I was only responsible for this vehicle between 12:00 on 26/10/25 and 20:00 on 27/10/25. I am only seeking to clear penalties arising during that timeframe. If the payment I have made relates to a penalty issued outside of this period, I kindly request that it be refunded.

I would be grateful if you could please confirm:

Whether any penalties remain outstanding for the period stated above.

That the payment I made has been correctly applied to the relevant charge.

Thank you for your assistance, and I look forward to your reply.

Kind regards,

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Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your email which has been received by Glasgow City Council.  In order to address your correspondence; please ensure you have provided your full name, postal address and relevant reference number/vehicle registration mark where necessary. As your response may be returned by email, please ensure that you check your spam folder regularly for legitimate emails. Please allow 20 working days for a response, there is no need to contact us during this period as your appeal will be placed on hold.

If you wish to appeal a Penalty Charge Notice or Bus Lane Charge Notice, please visit www.glasgow.gov.uk

Payments can be made online at www.glasgow.gov.uk or by calling 0141 287 3800.

Yours sincerely
Glasgow City Council

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Wed, Oct 29, 11:56 AM

Dear Mr X

Thank you for your email received by Glasgow City Council. Upon checking our system vehicle registration is invalid. To allow us to proceed further please ensure you have given us the correct details.

Your Sincerely

CBS Parking Support
Glasgow City Council

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Thu, Oct 30, 2:25 PM

Please see attached photo of the registration plate. It is for this vehicle that I called in to query.

What exactly is showing as incorrect on your end please?

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Mon, Nov 3, 7:50 PM

Can someone please provide an update re my above correspondence.

Kind regards

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Wed, Nov 5, 4:01 PM

Dear Sir/Madam

We kindly ask you open the attachment sent to you in this email as it contains information about your parking or bus lane contravention.

The attachment can only be viewed using Adobe Reader. This software is available free of charge from the Adobe Website http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/

Please do not reply to this email as it is sent from an automated mailbox that cannot accept replies.

Regards
Glasgow City Council

ATTACHED LETTER:

Our Ref WR25ZKX/MCR 05/11/2025

Dear Mr X,
Vehicle Registration: WR25ZKX

I refer to your correspondence in connection with the above Charge Notice.

Whilst I note your comments, due to the constraints of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), I can only discuss this vehicle with the registered keeper of the vehicle at the time the contravention occurred.

I am unable to discuss any details or Notices that may or
may not have been issued to this vehicle with anyone other than the registered keeper.

As this Notice was paid prior to any registered keeper details being supplied by DVLA Swansea, I cannot confirm you are the registered keeper of the vehicle. As you state you are only responsible for the vehicle for a period of hours between 26/10/2025 and 27/10/2025, it is very unlikely you are the
registered keeper of this vehicle.

I regret that I am unable to assist you, nor enter into further correspondence regarding this matter.

I would suggest you contact the registered keeper of this vehicle if you have any other queries regarding this vehicle. We will be able to discuss the matter with the registered keeper if they are able to prove
they are the registered keeper of the vehicle.

I trust this information is of assistance.

Yours sincerely

Glasgow City Council

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Wed, Nov 5, 4:12 PM
to noreplycitizenparking

Thank you for your response.

To clarify, I am not the registered keeper of the vehicle referenced. The payment you have taken was made in error from my bank account, and I am able to verify my identity and the account from which the payment was taken. The vehicle details were provided solely to assist you in locating the transaction.

I do not require any information regarding the vehicle or the penalty itself. I am requesting that you refund the payment that was incorrectly taken from my account.

Please confirm when the refund will be processed.

Kind regards,

So I can close this all down and forget about it

They have cancelled it


"PCN RG40219655
MR XXXXX, the authority has not contested your appeal, and you are not liable to pay the penalty charge."


"There is nothing to pay and the authority will cancel the penalty charge
This is because the authority did not contest your appeal."

"The authority's reasons for not contesting the case are"

"Reading Borough Council has reviewed this Appeal and the decision has been made in this instance to not contest this Appeal. Please note, the PCN was issued correctly, and the decision made in this instance does not set a precedent for future PCNs that may be issued.

This case is now closed."

By the way, what do they mean by saying "Please note, the PCN was issued correctly"? No PCN was issued!

Also, who is saying this? Is it the council or the Tribunal?

No you haven't!

You've submitted your skeleton argument and reserve the right to make further representations - informed by our suggestions - once you have seen the council's evidence!

Ok, understood.

This is what I wrote:

   
I am writing to formally appeal the Notice to Owner I received in relation to the alleged contravention.

When I returned to my vehicle, a Civil Enforcement Officer was nearby, entering details into her handheld device. However, there was no Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) attached to my vehicle, nor was one handed to me or visibly in her possession. If she was in the process of issuing a PCN, it had not been completed or served at the time I was present.

I later received a Notice to Owner by post, which came as a surprise given the lack of any physical PCN. I appealed this on the grounds that no PCN had been properly issued or served, and I requested supporting evidence. Unfortunately, no such evidence was provided. The suggestion that the PCN may have been removed or blown away is purely speculative and unsupported by any proof.

Given that the council has not provided any substantive evidence to show that a PCN was issued and served in accordance with the relevant regulations, I respectfully request that this penalty be cancelled.

Should I explain my appeal or save it until the phone tribunal>

They should indeed have come clean and admitted they served the wrong document - a postal PCN looks like it would have been correct. But they sent an NTO instead.

We see a wrongly served NTO quite often and it can come down to your word against theirs, which is why speaking to the adjudicator is vital should they contest.

I suspect in this case they've not bothered to check the CEO's notes and when they do won't contest the appeal.

Yes that makes sense. Thanks for this.

By the way, the tribunal website doesn't have the Procedural Impropriety option. Closest most relevant option seems to be: The authority made a procedural error.

Great,

So when registering the appeal with the tribunal website, I won't be asked for anything beyond the details of the NTO?