How Can I Challenge An Oxfordshire PCN?
This blog serves to answer the question “How Can I Challenge An Oxfordshire PCN?” You need to study the contravention code on your Penalty Charge Notice before writing down your PCN Challenge and determining whether you actually committed the traffic violation or not. If you have evidence to show that you have not breached a certain Parking Zone, Bus Lane, or Moving Traffic restriction you can attach it with your formal representation to get your Oxfordshire PCN cancelled.
How Can I Challenge An Oxfordshire PCN?
You can challenge an Oxfordshire PCN by filling out the online formal representation form on the Oxfordshire County Council website or by writing an appeal to the Oxfordshire County Council’s mailing address on the reverse of your Notice to Owner document.
In order to compose a successful formal representation to the Oxfordshire County Council, you need to be prepared for being handed a Parking Zone, Bus Lane entry or moving traffic PCN. For each time you park your vehicle in a parking bay, you need to preserve your pay and display tickets, record a parking camera or digital camera video showing the duration of your stay and also make sure that you remember to remove your vehicle before your time limit expires. If you are careless in parking your vehicle or have lost track of the time or are unaware of all the parking contraventions enforced at the zone, you will not be able to challenge the PCN.
Similarly, you must have a map of all the bus lanes (or bus-only streets) along your daily route to prevent breaching a Bus Lane while travelling to your destination. This map should preferably be memorized by connecting the Bus lane location with the contravention code 34J, 34M 34 F or 51J. If you do end up breaching a Bus Lane by mistake, you can state your authentic mitigating circumstances in your formal representation. You must remember to support these reasons with evidence such as a medical certificate showing that you are suffering from a serious illness or a video clip of the incident explaining why you turned your vehicle in the wrong direction.
It is necessary to get the help of a passenger travelling with you to film your road trips in Oxfordshire County Council to have some evidence to challenge a Bus Lane or Moving Traffic PCN. If you were avoiding a collision with an oncoming vehicle or your driving actions were affected by symptoms of a health condition, you need to explain your case by using photographs or video footage.
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 Oxfordshire PCN?
You can submit a formal representation to your Oxfordshire PCN by writing a letter addressed to the Oxfordshire County Council or by filling in the online formal representation form on the Oxfordshire County Council website.
You need to brainstorm reasons to challenge an Oxfordshire 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 Oxfordshire County Council. You need to visit the Oxfordshire County Council website to submit a formal representation to your PCN. You have to open this webpage to enter your PCN number and select “In Oxfordshire”. You need to click on “Continue” to view your PCN details before filling in the online formal representation form.
It is essential to upload authentic evidence material with your PCN challenge to describe your mitigating circumstances to the Oxfordshire County Council and for explaining your point of view of the events which took place at the traffic violation scene. 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 Oxfordshire County Council (by mixing up the contraventions) or reasons which involve forgetfulness to justify your actions, you can submit the formal representation.
Another way to send in your Oxfordshire PCN challenge is by mail. You can write down a formal representation on paper and attach evidence documents or photographs to the form by using a stapler or paper clip. Your letter should mention your PCN number, date of issue of the PCN, your vehicle registration number, and personal details. This PCN challenge written on your Notice to Owner needs to be sent to Oxfordshire County Council’s Parking Services.
Evidence to support your formal representation can be attached to the form by using a stapler or paper clip. Your PCN appeals form and all accompanying evidence documents (enclosed in an envelope) need to be sent to:
Oxfordshire County Council PCN Processing Centre,
PO Box 315,
Sheffield,
S98 1AE
How Can I Pay my Oxfordshire PCN fine?
You can pay your Oxfordshire PCN on the Oxfordshire County Council’s online payments page, by sending a check or postal order through the mail, or by calling the Oxfordshire County Council’s automated payments hotline.
If you choose to make your PCN fine payment online, you should visit the Oxfordshire County Council website. On this page you need to click on “Pay a fine issued in Oxfordshire” In the window which opens up you can enter your PCN number to initiate your PCN fine payment. In the next step of paying your PCN, you need to enter your payment card details to complete the online payment process
You might want to call the Oxfordshire County Council automated payments hotline. For this, you have to call on 03453371138. In the first menu, you have to select option 1. On the call, you will need to enter your PCN number and provide your payment card details. You can use the * key to enter the letters in your PCN number. This payment hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You should wait to receive a confirmation code for your PCN payment before ending the call.
You can also pay your Oxfordshire PCN by sending a check or postal order payable to “Oxfordshire County Council”. You also need to attach the payment slip in your “Notice To Owner” document to this payment. The check or postal order should have your PCN number and Vehicle Registration Number written on the back. This payment needs to be sent to:
Oxford PCN Processing Centre,
PO Box 860,
Oxford,
OX4 1FT,
UK
How much is the PCN fine for each of the 3 kinds of PCNs served in Oxfordshire County Council?
A Parking PCN in Oxfordshire County 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 Oxfordshire County 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
What will happen if I don’t pay my Oxfordshire 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 Oxfordshire County Council. Per your driving license rules, you are bound to abide by Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic contravention codes in Oxfordshire County Council.
If you neither pay your Oxfordshire 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. Ignoring the charge certificate may result in the filing of a court order (for recovery of debts) against you by Oxfordshire 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 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 Oxfordshire PCN with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal if the Oxfordshire County Council dismisses my appeal?
Yes, you can dispute the decision of the Oxfordshire 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 Oxfordshire 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 Oxfordshire 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 Oxfordshire 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 Oxfordshire County Council.
Conclusion
This blog post addressed the question “How Can I Challenge an Oxfordshire PCN?” Evidence that can be used to successfully challenge an Oxfordshire PCN needs to be collected regularly by recording your vehicle’s movements along road turns, at parking zones, and while stopped inside a box junction. This evidence is the only way to show that your vehicle didn’t actually breach the traffic contravention enforced at the specific location or committed the traffic violation owing to certain mitigating circumstances (only for Bus Lane and Moving Traffic PCNs).