Penalty charge notices - charge certificates
If we receive no contact or payment during the 28 day period after a penalty charge notice (PCN) is issued, we may issue a Notice to Owner (NTO).
We may issue a Charge Certificate to the keeper of a vehicle 28 days from the receipt of an NTO if:
- the associated PCN remains outstanding
- no PCN appeal has been registered with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal (TPT)
- we receive a Notice of Refusal from the TPT
The Charge Certificate increases the penalty charge by 50% and allows 21 days for payment, beginning with the date of posting.
Once a Charge Certificate has been issued you have no further statutory right of appeal.
Late representations
If you were not aware that a PCN was outstanding prior to receiving your Charge Certificate, for example if you never received the PCN or the NTO, you are able to make a late PCN representation.
To make a late representation, write to us explaining why you feel you should not have to pay the PCN.
At this stage we do not have a legal duty to consider representations, but if you have reasonable grounds for making one we will do so.
We will notify you of our decision. If we decide not to accept your late representation then the PCN will progress to the next stage.
Charge certificate next steps
If a payment or representation have not been received after 21 days, we may register the charge with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court to recover the unpaid charge.
The TEC is part of the County Court based at Northampton that deals with the registration of debts from England and Wales for all unpaid PCNs.
After the TEC has sent confirmation that we may proceed to recover the charge, we have 15 days to prepare and serve the following forms on you: