A penalty charge is payable with respect to a vehicle by:
- The operator of the vehicle; and
- The person in control of the vehicle if the person in control of the vehicle acts in contravention of the lorry control order.
Where London Councils TEC (the ‘authority’) believe that a lorry ban contravention has occurred, they may issue a Penalty Charge Notice to:
- The person appearing to them to be the operator of the vehicle; and/or
- The person appearing to them to be the person in control of the vehicle at the time of the contravention.
The Penalty Charge Notice will normally be served by post
Your next steps:
Pay the penalty charge
- Payment details are on the Penalty Charge Notice.
- You should pay within 28 days beginning with the date of the notice. If the authority receives payment within the first 14 days, you only have to pay half the penalty.
or:
Make representations to the authority explaining why you think you are not liable to pay or should not have to pay the penalty
You should make your representations within 28 days of the date the Penalty Charge Notice was served. Representations can be made on the following grounds:
Operators:
- You were not the operator of the vehicle at the time the alleged contravention of the order took place;
- There was no contravention of the lorry control order;
- The penalty exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case.
Drivers:
- You were not the person in control of the vehicle at the time the alleged contravention of the order;
- There was no contravention of the lorry control order;
- The penalty exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case;
Even if one of these grounds does not apply, you may also ask the authority to consider other reasons for cancelling the penalty, such as mitigation. However, the authority is ONLY bound to cancel the Penalty Charge Notice if it accepts that one of the grounds above applies.
When making representations you should:
- Explain your reasons fully and clearly;
- Send clear copies of any relevant documents, keeping originals;
- Make sure the authority receives your representations within 28 days of the date the notice is served. It may disregard representations received later. It may consider late representations, but do not have to.
The authority considers your representations
The authority must:
- Consider representations received in time;
- Decide whether to accept or reject them;
- Send to the person who made the representations:
- A Notice of Acceptance, if it accepts them; or
- A Notice of Rejection and a Notice of Appeal form, if it does not accept them
- If it has accepted the representations, cancel the Penalty Charge Notice.
The adjudicators have decided that the authority should normally respond to representations within 3 months.
Notice of Acceptance
If you receive a Notice of Acceptance, you will not have to pay the penalty and you need take no further action.
Notice of Rejection
The person to whom a Notice of Rejection has been issued has 28 days, beginning with the date of service of that notice, to either:
- Pay the penalty charge; or
- Appeal to the adjudicator. An appeal form should have been sent to you by the authority with the Notice of Rejection. If this form is not enclosed, the authority should be contacted to obtain one.
If you wish to appeal to the adjudicator later than the 28 days, you should still send your appeal but you must say on the appeal form why it is late. The adjudicator will then decide whether to allow you to appeal late.
More information on how to appeal to the adjudicator
If the penalty charge is not paid or an appeal made within the 28 days allowed, the authority may issue a Charge Certificate.
Notice of Appeal
This is the form which the authority should send with their Notice of Rejection.
The grounds of appeal are the same as for making representations:
Operators:
- You were not the operator of the vehicle at the time the alleged contravention of the order took place;
- There was no contravention of the lorry control order;
- The penalty exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case.
Drivers:
- You were not the person in control of the vehicle at the time the alleged contravention of the order;
- There was no contravention of the lorry control order;
- The penalty exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case;
The adjudicator can only allow an appeal if one of these grounds applies. The adjudicator cannot allow an appeal for other reasons, e.g. mitigating circumstances.
More information on how to appeal to the adjudicator
Charge Certificate
This is a notice issued by the authority increasing the penalty charge by 50%.
The authority may issue a Charge Certificate where the penalty has not been paid and after:
- no representations against the penalty have been made to the authority, 28 days beginning with the date on which the notice is served; or
- representations have been made and a Notice of Rejection has been issued by the authority, 28 days from the date on which the period within which an appeal could have been made expires; or
- an unsuccessful appeal has been made against a Notice of Rejection to an Adjudicator, 28 days after the date on which the adjudicator's decision is served on the appellant; or
- an appeal against a Notice of Rejection is withdrawn before a decision is made by an adjudicator, 14 days beginning with the date on which the appeal is withdrawn.
Registration of Debt and Order for Recovery
If after 14 days of a charge certificate being served the penalty charge is still not paid, the authority may register it as a debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre.
The authority may then recover the penalty through the County Court:
- the County Court, on application from the authority, will authorise the authority to draw up an Order for Recovery. The authority will serve this order on you, with a Statutory Declaration form.
- if the penalty is not then paid, the authority may apply to the Court for a Warrant of Execution.
Next steps
Pay the outstanding charge or lodge a Statutory Declaration at the Traffic Enforcement Centre.
Statutory Declaration
Where an Order for Recovery has been made, liability for the penalty can then only be challenged in the following circumstances:
- you did not receive the Penalty Charge Notice in question; or
- you made representations to the authority concerned but did not receive a rejection notice from them; or
- you appealed to an adjudicator against the rejection by the authority of representations made by them but had no response to the appeal.
If, and only if, one of these applies, you may make a Statutory Declaration.
The completed Statutory Declaration should be returned to the Traffic Enforcement Centre within 21 days beginning with the date of service of the Order, although there are provisions for the court to allow longer.
A Statutory Declaration may only be made by the person against whom an Order for Recovery has been made.
It is a criminal offence to make a false Statutory Declaration.
For information available from the Traffic Enforcement Centre on the statutory declaration procedure and downloadable forms, visit the courts service website.
Next steps
What happens next depends on the grounds for making the Statutory Declaration.
- If the ground is that the Penalty Charge Notice was not received, the Order for Recovery, Charge Certificate and Penalty Charge Notice are cancelled. The authority may then issue a new Penalty Charge Notice;
- If the ground is that the Notice of Rejection or a decision from the adjudicator was not received, the authority must refer the Statutory Declaration to the adjudicator who will decide what will happen next.