The parking adjudicator: Traffic Penalty Tribunal and London Tribunals
Checked 17 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it is
The adjudicator is the free, independent stage after a council rejects representations: lawyers appointed with the Lord Chancellor's consent hear the case afresh, at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for England outside London and at London Tribunals for the capital, with Wales running the same structure under its own 2013 Regulations (Traffic Penalty Tribunal). Drivers call this stage taking it to the tribunal. The rejection letter undersells two levers: an adjudicator who finds a ground made out must allow the appeal, reg 7(5) SI 2022/576, and one who finds none can still refer the case back on compelling reasons, where the council's silence for 35 days becomes acceptance, reg 7(9) and (13).
Reading the notice
The decision notice carries the 28-day appeal clock, reg 6(6); a late notice of appeal must state the reasons for the delay, which the adjudicator treats as a request to extend, Sch 1 para 2(4).
Procedure lines matter less than they look: most appeals can be decided on the papers, a hearing follows on request and is public, Sch 1 paras 6 and 8, and the adjudicator is not tied to the strict rules of evidence, Sch 1 para 10.
For calibration, the official numbers: London Tribunals received 42,193 appeals in 2023-24 and allowed 16,947, roughly four in ten (London Councils enforcement and appeals statistics 2023-24); the Traffic Penalty Tribunal's own tables split allowed cases into contested wins and cases the authority chose not to contest (Traffic Penalty Tribunal annual statistics).
The decision in front of you
Appeal on a ground within 28 days of the decision notice: free, decided afresh; success brings binding directions, in practice cancellation and refund, complied with immediately, reg 7(5) to (7), and the costs risk is confined to frivolous, vexatious or wholly unreasonable conduct, Sch 1 para 13.
Appeal with hardship but no ground: the adjudicator cannot allow the appeal without a ground, reg 7(5), but can recommend cancellation for compelling reasons; the authority must reconsider and answer within 35 days, silence counts as acceptance, a refusal needs stated reasons and cannot itself be appealed, reg 7(8) to (13).
A lost appeal leaves 28 days to pay, with a review available inside 14 days on the narrow grounds only: administrative error, absence with good reason, genuinely new evidence, or the interests of justice, Sch 1 para 12; the review is not a second run at the merits.
Do nothing after the rejection and, once its 28 days pass, the charge certificate route opens, adding 50 per cent and closing this free stage, covered in the charge certificate guide.
What happens next
An allowed appeal ends with directions the authority must obey immediately, reg 7(6) and (7), in practice cancellation of the notice and refund of anything paid.
A dismissed appeal leaves 28 days to pay before escalation; the register entry sent to the parties starts the 14-day review clock, Sch 1 paras 11 and 12.
After that the chain runs through the charge certificate and the Order for Recovery, both covered in the charge certificate guide; nothing at those stages reopens the parking itself.
The numbers
The appeal is free; costs orders are exceptional and confined to frivolous, vexatious or wholly unreasonable conduct (SI 2022/576 Sch 1 para 13).
London Tribunals 2023-24: 42,193 appeals received, 16,947 allowed, roughly four in ten (London Councils enforcement and appeals statistics 2023-24).
The referral clock: an authority answering an adjudicator's recommendation has 35 days, and silence is acceptance (SI 2022/576 reg 7(13)).
The deadlines
28 days from service of the decision notice to appeal, extendable at the adjudicator's discretion with reasons in the notice of appeal, reg 7(2) and Sch 1 para 2(4).
35 days for the authority to answer a compelling-reasons recommendation, silence counting as acceptance, reg 7(9) and (13).
14 days from service of the register entry to apply for a review of the decision, Sch 1 para 12(2).
What people get wrong
Saving the strongest material for a later review: the review grounds are narrow and exclude a rerun of the merits, Sch 1 para 12, so the appeal itself is the place for everything.
Fearing the hearing: paper disposal is the default only until a party asks, the hearing is free and public, and a requested hearing left unattended lets the adjudicator decide in absence, Sch 1 paras 6 and 10.
Counting the 28 days from the day the rejection was read rather than the day it was served: the clock in reg 7(2) runs from service, and the envelope proves nothing by itself.
Authority
Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/576), regs 6, 7 and Schedule 1; Traffic Management Act 2004, Part 6; London Councils enforcement and appeals statistics 2023-24; Traffic Penalty Tribunal annual statistics