What kind of notice have I got?
A council penalty charge notice and a private parking charge notice are both abbreviated PCN, and the two are not the same thing. Five questions you can answer from the document in your hand.
A council penalty charge notice and a private parking charge notice are both abbreviated PCN, and they are not the same thing at all — different law, different deadlines, different place to appeal. Four questions, answered from the document in front of you, will tell you which one you are holding.
This tells you which system your notice belongs to. It does not tell you whether the notice is right, or whether you should pay it.
Who sent it? Look at the letterhead and the payment details, not at the wording.
A council notice names the council, or a named enforcement partnership. A private notice names a parking company. If both appear, the one you pay is the one that counts.
What does it say you did?
It will be near the top, often as a contravention code and a short description.
Where was the vehicle?
This decides nothing about who is right — it decides which system you are in.
A parking company cannot enforce on a public road. Does the notice name a council anywhere — as the authority, or as the body you pay?
Some councils use contractors whose name appears first. The legal issuer is the council.
Does the notice mention an independent appeals service by name — POPLA, the IAS, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, or London Tribunals?
This is the single most reliable tell, because the appeal route follows the system and cannot be chosen.
A council Penalty Charge Notice for parking
A civil penalty issued by a council under the Traffic Management Act 2004. Not a criminal matter, no points — but it escalates on a statutory timetable whether or not you respond.
- The discount period and the deadline to pay in full are set in law, not by the council.
- Liability sits with the registered keeper.
- If the council rejects your representations, the appeal goes to an independent tribunal and costs you nothing.
A council Penalty Charge Notice for a bus lane
The same kind of notice as a parking PCN — same Act, same tribunal, same charge level — issued because you were moving rather than parked.
- Served by post from camera evidence, so the discount period is the longer camera one, not fourteen days.
- There is no warning for a first bus lane contravention.
- Liability sits with the registered keeper.
A council Penalty Charge Notice for a moving traffic contravention
A council notice for a box junction, banned turn, no-entry sign or similar. Same Act and same tribunal as a parking ticket.
- For the first six months at each camera site, a first contravention should get a warning rather than a charge — the guidance says «should», not «must».
- That warning is tied to the camera location, not to you: it is no protection at the next junction.
- If it is a box junction, waiting in the box to turn right is permitted when only oncoming traffic or another right-turner is stopping you.
A private Parking Charge Notice
A contractual claim from a parking company on private land. Not a fine, and nobody can add points or prosecute you for it — but it can be pursued as a debt.
- No deadline here is statutory. The operator sets them, including the discount period.
- The operator can only pursue you as keeper if it has followed Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012.
- Which appeals service hears you depends on the operator's trade body, and you do not get to choose it.
An airport charge or a private parking charge on airport land
Airports are private land. A drop-off charge is a price, not a penalty — but an unpaid one can turn into a parking charge, and some airports collect at a barrier instead, where there is nothing to appeal because nothing is issued.
- Check first whether what you have is an unpaid charge or a parking charge notice. They are not the same document.
- Half the airports covered here are barrier-controlled: the charge is taken as you leave and no notice follows.
- Where a notice is issued, the appeal route depends on the operator's trade body, and some airports do not publish it.
A Fixed Penalty Notice
A police or DVSA matter, not a civil parking one. This is the criminal track, and it can carry points.
- Nothing on the council or private tracks applies to it.
- The deadlines and the consequences of ignoring it are different in kind, not just in length.
A clean air or congestion charge penalty
A council charge for entering a charging zone without paying. It is enforced civilly, like a parking PCN, but the charge and the deadlines are set by the zone's own scheme.
- The city page for that zone is the place to check which class of vehicle pays.
- We do not publish the penalty amounts for every zone, and where we do not, we say so rather than guess.
Something does not add up
A parking company has no power to enforce on a public road, and a notice that claims to is worth reading very carefully before you pay it.
- Check whether the land really is public highway — some roads that look public are privately owned, and then the claim can be valid.
- Check whether a council is named anywhere on the document.
- If neither, treat it as a claim to be challenged rather than a penalty to be paid.
Not enough on the document to tell
A notice that names no issuing authority and no appeals service is missing the two things that would identify it. That is itself worth noting.
- Compare the two: a council notice cites the Traffic Management Act or the London Local Authorities Acts; a private one refers to the terms on the signs.
- Look at where the money goes. The payee is the surest tell on the page.
- Do not pay to find out. Paying closes the door on both tracks.