Are you at the correct stage to appeal?
Charge - is there a charge for submitting an appeal?
Preparation
Grounds of Appeal
Evidence
What if I don’t have all the evidence I need at the moment?
Key cases
Regulations
You may only appeal to the Adjudicator if you have first made formal representations to the Enforcement Authority that issued the Penalty Charge Notice and have received from them a Notice of Rejection.
With this Notice of Rejection the authority should send you a Parking and Traffic Appeals Service Notice of Appeal form.
You may either pay the penalty charge or appeal to the Adjudicator.
If you do not receive a Notice of Appeal form from the authority you should contact them to obtain one if you wish to appeal. If you have to do this and as a result your appeal is late (see below), you should explain this on the form.
If you intend to appeal to the Adjudicator you should do so within 28 days of the service of the authority’s Notice of Rejection.
If you submit your appeal outside of this time limit you MUST state clearly the reasons for the delay in order that the Adjudicator can decide whether to allow you to appeal late.
There is no charge for appealing.
Please read the notes which accompany the Notice of Appeal carefully.
One of the first questions on the Notice of Appeal form asks you whether you want a postal decision or a personal hearing.
Follow this link for help deciding between a postal or a personal appeal.
If you decide you would like a personal hearing, you should indicate the times you ARE available to attend the Hearing Centre in the spaces provided on the Notice of Appeal.
You should decide which of the grounds of appeal applies in your case. These can be found on the Notice of Appeal or by clicking on the relevant link below:
The Adjudicator can only allow an appeal if one of the grounds is made out.
The Adjudicator is not able to allow an appeal or reduce the penalty because you feel that the circumstances were an excuse for the contravention, but if those circumstances amount to compelling reasons the Adjudicator may refer the matter back to the Enforcement Authority for their reconsideration.
Most regulations contain specific exemptions. If you think your case might fall into one of the exempted categories, you should appeal; the Adjudicator will explain if it cannot be allowed.
You should send any evidence in your possession that may support your case to the Adjudicator.
Please remember that the Adjudicator does not hold any information on your Penalty Charge Notice and will decide your appeal based on the evidence provided by both yourself and the Enforcement Authority.
The Adjudicator will not obtain evidence or contact witnesses on your behalf. It is for you to prepare your own case. For example, if you need information from the DVLA or police, you must contact them.
Examples of evidence you may wish to send to the Adjudicator are:
Remember to send clear copies and retain original documents.
If you wish to submit in evidence photographs in electronic format or moving images, please do so on CD, DVD or videotape (not Super VHS). Please note that we will retain it as we require a complete record of the evidence.
In view of the significant security issues associated with their use, we cannot accept evidence on a USB flash drive.
Please also note that, if you present evidence at a hearing that we cannot retain, such as on a mobile telephone, laptop or camcorder, the Adjudicator may need to adjourn the hearing for you to provide the evidence in a suitable form.
If you are intending to fax photographs or images to the tribunal the quality on receipt is likely to be poor. Please send clear copies to us by post. If you are attending a personal hearing, please bring the originals with you.
The Enforcement Authority will send PATAS all the evidence it has on the Penalty Charge Notice and provide you with a copy.
Whether you choose a postal or a personal hearing, the Enforcement Authority must send you a copy of their evidence at least three clear days before the scheduled date.
Send in the Notice of Appeal as soon as you can and explain that your evidence will follow. Remember there is a strict time limit to return your completed form. When you receive a date for your hearing you will be told when you should send in your evidence.
If the date approaches and you still do not have all your evidence, you can contact PATAS and ask for the appeal to be rescheduled to allow you more time to gather it. Your request will be considered by the Adjudicator.
You can bring evidence to a personal hearing but the Adjudicator will decide how to deal with it.
When you are preparing your appeal you might find it useful to look at key cases that have been decided before.
Go to our database of key cases
A number of the Adjudicators' decisions have dealt in detail with points and principles of parking and traffic law.
These key decisions are stored on this site for you to view. By searching key cases you may find one with circumstances which are similar to yours but remember that each case turns on its own facts.
You can search by the subject matter of the decision; click the arrow next to the subject field to view the subject index.
You can also use the keyword search which picks up words in the decision title e.g. pay & display.
The regulations governing the appeals can be found at Regulations.