Penalty Charge Notice, Fixed Penalty Notice, Parking Charge Notice: three different tickets
Checked 17 July 2026 · How we check our figures
What it is
Three documents share a windscreen and a three-letter shape and belong to three legal worlds: the Penalty Charge Notice is a council's or TfL's civil penalty, the Fixed Penalty Notice is a criminal ticket from police or DVSA, and the Parking Charge Notice is a private company's contract claim. All three get called a parking ticket. What none of them prints is the sorting rule: points travel only with the criminal ticket, they are a creature of the RTOA 1988; a county court judgment can follow only the private one, because the public schemes enforce by registration rather than claim; and no deadline transfers between them.
Reading the notice
The issuer line sorts most cases in one glance: a council or TfL crest with Traffic Management Act 2004 wording means the civil penalty; a constabulary or DVSA header means the criminal fixed penalty; a limited company, often with keeper liability and Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 references, means a private charge
The money line behaves differently on each: the civil PCN shows a full amount with a 50 per cent discount window of 14 or 21 days; the fixed penalty is a flat statutory sum; the private charge is whatever the operator set, with its own discount
The keeper question is the private ticket's fingerprint: a demand that the keeper name the driver or pay is Schedule 4 machinery; the state's version of that question came earlier, under s. 172, and belongs to criminal cases
The decision in front of you
A council or TfL PCN: pay in the discount window and it closes at half; or challenge it, informally against a windscreen ticket and formally within 28 days once the Notice to Owner or postal PCN arrives, then appeal free to the independent adjudicator; no points are possible, because points exist only under the criminal endorsement scheme of the RTOA 1988; ignored, it grows by half and becomes a registered debt without any judge weighing the parking, the ladder covered in the charge certificate guide
A Fixed Penalty Notice: pay within the notice's period, at least 21 days by statute, s. 52(3)(a) RTOA 1988, and liability to conviction is discharged; or request a hearing before that period ends, s. 55(2); ignored, the sum plus one half is registered for enforcement as a fine with no hearing at all, s. 55(3)
A private Parking Charge Notice: pay the operator's discounted sum, or appeal to the operator and then to the independent service its trade association runs, free; the amounts are the operator's own, capped by industry codes that are rules of membership, not statute, and the Supreme Court upheld a charge of 85 pounds as neither penal nor unfair, ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67
Ignoring the private one is the only ignoring that can meet a judge: the operator's route to money it cannot collect is a county court claim; a judgment only follows a claim, and a judgment entry stays on the register six years unless paid within one month (gov.uk)
What happens next
Each ticket has its own ladder and none borrows another's: the PCN climbs through Notice to Owner and charge certificate to court registration; the unpaid fixed penalty jumps straight to registration at one and a half times; the private charge walks the civil route of letters, claim form, judgment
The private operator got the keeper's address from DVLA, a request open to members of an accredited trade association; keeper liability holds only where Schedule 4 was followed, including a notice to keeper delivered within 14 days of the parking for camera-only cases, para 9
The long clocks differ too: the criminal charge must be laid within six months, s. 127 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980; the private claim is a contract action with six years to run, s. 5 Limitation Act 1980
The numbers
Fixed penalty for speeding: 100 pounds and 3 points (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-16); an unpaid fixed penalty registers at the penalty plus one half, s. 55(3) RTOA 1988
Civil PCN mechanics: 50 per cent discount for early payment, 50 per cent uplift by charge certificate (Traffic Penalty Tribunal, checked 2026-07-17); the base amount varies by authority and contravention band
Private charges: set by the operator; 85 pounds upheld in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67; industry code caps are membership rules, not statute
A county court judgment stays on the register six years unless paid in full within one month (gov.uk, checked 2026-07-17)
The deadlines
Civil PCN: discount 14 days, or 21 where the PCN came by post; 28 days to pay or make representations, and 28 more at each later stage (Traffic Penalty Tribunal, checked 2026-07-17)
Fixed penalty: the notice's own period, not less than 21 days, s. 52(3)(a) RTOA 1988, for payment or a hearing request
Private charge: the operator's windows are contractual; keeper liability needs a notice to keeper within 14 days of the parking for camera-only cases, Sch 4 para 9 Protection of Freedoms Act 2012; a court claim form, if one ever comes, carries its own 14-day response clock
What people get wrong
Carrying private-ticket folklore to a council PCN; the council one does not need a judge to become enforceable, the charge certificate route does that on its own, and the tribunal door closes while the letter sits in a drawer
Paying a private charge for fear of points; a company cannot issue points, which exist only under the RTOA 1988, so the pressure in the letter is commercial, not penal
Treating a Fixed Penalty Notice like a PCN and waiting for a reminder ladder; there is none, the registration at one and a half times follows the deadline directly, s. 55(3) RTOA 1988
Authority
Traffic Management Act 2004, Part 6
ss. 52, 55 Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988
Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, Sch 4
ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67
s. 127 Magistrates' Courts Act 1980
s. 5 Limitation Act 1980