How Can I Challenge An Oadby and Wigston PCN?
This blog serves to answer the question “How Can I Challenge An Oadby and Wigston PCN?” Actively collecting and preserving evidence such as video recordings filmed from inside your vehicle, copies of parking permits, or medical certificates to justify mitigating circumstances can save you the embarrassment of being unable to add any proof to back the grounds of your formal representation. This evidence forms the cornerstone of your Oadby and Wigston PCN challenge and needs to be supported by a professionally worded explanation of your mitigating circumstances or a clear rejection of the charge which says that the traffic contravention never occurred.
How Can I Challenge An Oadby and Wigston PCN?
You can challenge a PCN in the Borough of Oadby and Wigston by writing to the Leicestershire County Council or by visiting the Leicestershire County Council website. The Leicestershire County Council note processing centre distributes PCNs in Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and also manages their records.
The Leicestershire County Council will also decide the result of your PCN challenge and will either choose to withdraw your PCN or send you a Notice of Rejection of Representations. You can easily prepare for challenging any type of PCN issued in the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council by recording and saving video clips of your vehicle’s movements on the roads, streets, and parking zones of your council. Other evidence documents might include paid pay and display tickets or a medical certificate proving your mitigating circumstances such as a serious health condition affecting your driving.
If you proactively anticipate being handed a PCN and are extra careful of breaching Parking, Bus Lane and Moving Traffic contraventions, the only situation where you can get a Penalty Charge Notice is where you have only marginally breached the enforced restriction. This is still counted as a traffic violation but it can be successfully challenged by providing authentic evidence to explain your mitigating circumstances.
It is essential to collect and preserve video clips of your road trips in the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council for using them as evidence in case you are charged with a Penalty Charge Notice. These videos can be filmed by a friend or family member travelling with you. The camera’s focus should be on the front of your vehicle and on your actions to steer or apply the brakes to the car at a road junction.
Without these recordings as proof of your attempts to avoid the traffic violation or to show that the contravention never occurred, your PCN challenge will be rejected by the Leicestershire County Council.
In many cases, PCNs are not enforceable and you may be able to win your case and avoid having to pay your fine.
You could begin the process by speaking to an online solicitor for as little as £5.
What is a Penalty Charge Notice?
A Penalty Charge Notice is a monetary penalty issued to drivers or motorists for committing certain traffic contraventions including violating Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic restrictions. A PCN is issued for failing to follow Parking zone, bus lane enforcement, and moving traffic restrictions mentioned in the Road Traffic Act 1984 and the Traffic Management Act 2004.
A penalty charge notice can be handed to you by a Civil Enforcement Officer or dispatched to your (DVLA) residential address by post. CCTV cameras and Civil Enforcement Officers observe traffic contraventions before a violation is detected and the vehicle is charged with a PCN.
A PCN might also be issued for failing to pay road charges on time. You have 28 days to decide how and if you would like to challenge your Penalty Charge Notice. After 28 days if you have neither paid nor challenged your PCN, you will be sent a charge certificate from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
If you don’t challenge a PCN, you should pay the fine within 28 days, otherwise, its amount will increase by 50%. A £70 PCN will be worth £105 if you pay it in the 14 days after receiving your charge certificate.
What is the procedure for appealing against an Oadby and Wigston PCN?
You can submit a formal representation to your Oadby and Wigston PCN by writing a letter addressed to the Leicestershire County Council or by filling in the online formal representation form on the council’s official website.
You need to brainstorm reasons for challenging an Oadby and Wigston PCN from the day of the incident and list them down in word processing software or on paper. It is essential to have some authentic evidence to attach with your PCN appeal in the form of video footage of the traffic violation, medical certificates explaining your mitigating circumstances, or pay and display tickets.
The evidence must be matched with the grounds for your appeal before describing the incident from your point of view. Your rough formal representation can be edited for clarity multiple times before it is ready to attach to your online appeal to the Leicestershire County Council. You need to visit the Leicestershire County Council website to submit a formal representation to your PCN. You have to open the LCC Parking Matters webpage to enter your PCN number, your Vehicle Registration Number, and a Web Code mentioned on your Penalty Charge Notice. You need to click on “Continue” to view your PCN details before filling in the online appeals form.
It is essential to upload authentic evidence material with your PCN challenge to describe your mitigating circumstances to the Leicestershire County Council and for explaining your point of view of the events which took place at the traffic violation scene. If you made a video clip of your traffic contravention, you should save snapshots from it by using a video player or video editing software.
Most video players such as the VLC Player allow you to slow down your video frame by frame and thus take ( a collection of) snapshots to attach with your Oadby and Wigston PCN challenge. The text of your appeal must state the relevant contravention code on your PCN and explain how you attempted to avoid the error (supported by photos or video footage).
Once you have proofread your appeal to eliminate any reasons for your challenge which might convey a disregard for traffic contravention codes enforced in the Oadby and Wigston Council (by mixing up the contraventions) or reasons which involve forgetfulness to justify your actions, you can submit the formal representation.
You can also submit an informal representation to your Oadby and Wigston PCN (CCTV Bus Lane PCN or a Parking PCN served by a CEO which had to be delivered by post) by accessing your PCN details here. To access the form you need to enter your PCN number (Notice Number) and vehicle registration number on this page.
You have to fill out the informal representation form by typing your full name, email address, and the contents of your informal representation. Once you are sure that you have constructed a strong appeals case to make the council grant you a formal representation, you can submit your form. The informal appeals stage is applicable to PCNs sent by post.
Another way to send in your Oadby and Wigston PCN challenge is by mail. You can write a formal representation to the Leicestershire County Council on the reverse of your “Notice to Owner” document. This handwritten appeal should be composed gradually by incorporating all the available evidence material to support the grounds for your challenge and should be able to convince the council of your mitigating circumstances (or other acceptable reasons).
Your letter should mention your PCN number, date of issue of the PCN, your vehicle registration number, and personal details.
Evidence to support your formal representation can be attached to the form using a stapler or paper clip. Your PCN appeals form and all accompanying evidence documents (enclosed in an envelope) need to be sent to:
Leicestershire County Council Note Processing Centre,
PO Box 9983,
Leicester,
LE3 7DD
How much is the PCN fine for each of the 3 kinds of PCNs served in the Oadby and Wigston Council?
A Parking PCN in Oadby and Wigston Council is served for violating higher or lower level parking restrictions. You have to pay £70 for committing a higher level parking contravention and £50 for a lower level parking contravention. If you pay the parking fine within 14 days, you will just be paying £35 or £25 as a 50% discount is applicable to your payment.
For failing to comply with a bus lane contravention code or a moving traffic restriction in Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, you will be charged a £70 Penalty Charge Notice. The 50% early payment discount reduces both these types of PCN fines to £35 if a bus lane PCN is paid within 21 days and a moving traffic PCN is paid within 14 days
How can I pay my Oadby and Wigston PCN fine?
It is best to make your Oadby and Wigston PCN fine payment online on the Leicestershire County council website using Visa Card, Master Card, Direct Debit, or Maestro Card. This method saves time and is also more precise.
You need to enter your PCN number and your vehicle registration number after opening this LCC Parking Matters webpage to initiate the PCN fine payment online. On the webpage, you need to enter your PCN Number (Notice Number) and your vehicle registration number. After this, you can click on “Continue”. To complete your fine submission online you also have to enter your payment card details in the next window. You must remember to wait for 24 hours after your PCN is issued before attempting to pay it.
But if you want to pay by post you need to attach a check or postal order payable to “Leicestershire County Council” and send it to this address:
LCC Note Processing Centre,
PO Box 9983,
Leicester,
LE3 7DD
You should remember to write down your PCN number and Vehicle Registration Number on the back of your check or postal order.
Your Oadby and Wigston PCN fine is also payable by telephone. You need to dial the following number to connect to Leicestershire County Council’s payments system: 0116 3057953. Next, you need to enter your payment card details on the call as well as your card’s billing address. Your vehicle registration number and PCN number are also needed to complete your payment. This automated payments hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
What will happen if I don’t pay my Oadby and Wigston PCN within the 28-day limit?
You should not ignore traffic contraventions or the Penalty Charge Notices resulting from them or cultivate a careless attitude towards driving in the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council. Per your driving license rules, you are bound to abide by Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic contravention codes in the Oadby and Wigston Borough Council.
If you neither pay your Oadby and Wigston PCN within 28 days nor decide to appeal against it, you will be sent a charge certificate from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The charge certificate increases your PCN fine by 50%, which means you will be paying £105 (or £75) now. You should pay the charge certificate within 14 days as it cannot be appealed and ignoring the charge certificate may result in the filing of a court order (for recovery of debts) against you by the Leicestershire County Council.
You will be sent a “Notice of Debt Registration” and a witness certificate from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal if you don’t pay the charge certificate amount within 14 days. The unpaid amount will be treated as a debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre at the Northampton County Court.
The court order for debt recovery enforces that the charge certificate amount must be paid in full within 21 days or the county court will have to use additional powers to recover the money from your possession which means employing Enforcement Agents to (contact you or) visit your personal premises.
Can I Dispute An Oadby and Wigston PCN with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal if the Leicestershire County Council dismisses my appeal?
Yes, you can dispute the decision of the Leicestershire County Council in your “Notice of Rejection of Representations” with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal website requires you to enter details given on your Notice of Rejection of Representations, after opening this webpage.
You can watch this instructional video here to learn about your challenge process. The video clearly explains how to use the online service offered by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. On the Traffic Penalty Tribunal webpage, you will first have to select the type of PCN you were served by the Leicestershire County Council (shown on the bottom part of the page).
After clicking on your specific type of Penalty Charge Notice, you should select “England” (Outside London). In the window which opens up, you should click on the orange box which reads “If you don’t agree with the PCN, you can make representations against it”.
After viewing the instructions on the following page, you need to click on “Start your appeal here” at the bottom of the webpage You will then be required to enter your Vehicle Registration Number, the reference number from the “Notice of Rejection” letter from the Leicestershire County Council, and your PCN number for which the appeal was rejected on this page.
You can use the online service to challenge multiple “Notices of Rejection” simultaneously. You will require a valid email address to create an account on the Traffic Penalty Tribunal website. You have to upload a copy of your “Notice of Rejection of Representations” letter to your application by using the Traffic Penalty Tribunal’s online portal.
You can upload evidence such as video clips of your traffic violation scenes (taken from inside your vehicle), medical certificates from a certified General Practitioner, maps of the area showing the exact distance your vehicle travelled inside a no-entry zone, and scanned copies of “pay and display” tickets. You should construct a strong appeals case to communicate your mitigating circumstances or to deliver your assertion that the traffic violation never occurred.
The Traffic Penalty Tribunal should be able to ascertain the legitimacy of your situation by viewing evidence material uploaded to the PCN appeals system.
Your appeal of the “Notice of Rejection of Representations” should be submitted to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal within 28 days of receiving your Notification of Rejection from the Leicestershire County Council. You must avail yourself of this chance of a free and independent hearing of your case.
You will be able to contact the Traffic Penalty Tribunal adjudicator during the formulation of your appeal. The result of your appeal will be communicated to you within 14-28 days of submitting your representation. If the adjudicator decides the case in your favour, the PCN will be cancelled by the Leicestershire County Council.
Conclusion
This blog post addressed the question “How Can I Challenge An Oadby and Wigston PCN?”You must film video clips of your road journeys in Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and save each day’s recording separately in a folder on your computer. This is the most compelling form of evidence that can be provided to challenge an Oadby and Wigston PCN successfully. If you keep evidence material ready with you, you will consider a Penalty Charge Notice as an opportunity to prove your knowledge of (and respect for) traffic contraventions by constructing and sending in a strong PCN challenge.