Traffic and parking
Traffic and Parking Enforcement: Find Your Route
A parking or traffic penalty that reaches the point of a bailiff visit went through one of several separate systems, and which one decides everything: the appeal you get, the deadline you are working to, and the court form that can stop it. Start with the paperwork, not the tone of the letter.
- Who issued it decides your route
- Council or crossing penalty: TE9
- TfL charge or DVLA fine: different
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Key facts
- Council PCN
- TE9 witness statement, TE7 if out of time
- TfL Congestion Charge, LEZ, ULEZ
- PE3 statutory declaration, PE2 if out of time
- Private parking ticket
- Contract claim, no bailiff without a CCJ first
- DVLA vehicle tax or clamp
- A different regime, not a PCN at all
Who issued your penalty?
A council parking ticket, a Penalty Charge Notice from a local authority anywhere in England, including a London borough, or a bus lane or moving traffic PCN from a council outside London, runs through the same chain: notice to owner, then a charge certificate, then registration at the Traffic Enforcement Centre. Bailiff Parking Fines covers how that chain reaches a bailiff and what it costs, and Appeal a PCN covers the representations and adjudicator stage that comes before any of that. If an order for recovery has already arrived, the form that undoes it is a witness statement on TE9, not a statutory declaration on PE3.
If the ticket came from a private landowner or a parking management company rather than a council, a supermarket, a retail park or a residential estate, it is also called a Parking Charge Notice, but it is a contract claim, not a penalty. No enforcement agent can act on it unless the operator has already sued you and won a County Court Judgment. Private Parking Fines explains why, and where to appeal instead.
A camera penalty for the Congestion Charge, the Low Emission Zone or ULEZ comes from Transport for London, not a council, and it sits in a different family of court forms entirely: a statutory declaration on PE3, or PE2 if you are out of time. TfL Enforcement covers the chain from camera to bailiff and what each scheme costs.
A camera penalty for the Dart Charge or the Mersey Gateway, and most clean air zone cameras outside London, are road user charging penalties too, but they sit in the witness statement family alongside a council PCN: TE9 and TE7, not PE3. The M6 Toll is different again: an ordinary contract debt with no Traffic Enforcement Centre route at all. Dart Charge and Tolls sets out which crossings work which way.
None of this applies if the letter is actually about unpaid vehicle tax, a SORN vehicle kept on the road, or a wheel clamp on your car. That is the DVLA's own regime, with its own penalties, its own clamping contractor and its own route to a magistrates' court fine, not a Penalty Charge Notice at all. DVLA Enforcement covers clamping, release fees and how to dispute it.
One combination is genuinely unresolved on the public record: a bus lane or moving traffic penalty issued by a London borough or by TfL itself. Do not assume either form applies. Check the form enclosed with your order for recovery, because those schemes run under separate London legislation that the rest of this page does not cover.
Already at the Traffic Enforcement Centre?
Council PCNs, Dart Charge, Mersey Gateway, clean air zone penalties and TfL charging penalties are all eventually registered at the same place, the Traffic Enforcement Centre in Northampton, even though they use different forms once they get there. Traffic Enforcement Centre explains what registration actually means, and why writing to Northampton to argue the ticket was unfair does not work. TE9 or PE3? sets out the form itself: which one applies to your penalty, the grounds you can declare, and the strict 21-day deadline.
If an agent is already involved
A warrant of control usually only follows once an order for recovery has run its course unanswered. If you are already past that stage, Notice of Enforcement and Warrant of Control cover what an agent can and cannot do next, whichever scheme your penalty started in. If none of this fits your situation, or you would rather talk it through, get help; initial advice is free.
Sources
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Practice Direction 75 — Traffic Enforcement, paragraphs 5.1-5.2 (statutory declaration vs witness statement; forms PE2/PE3/TE7/TE9)
Ministry of Justice (Civil Procedure Rules)
a completed application notice (form PE2 (Application to File a Statutory Declaration Out of Time) may be used for applications relating to statutory declarations and form TE7 may be used for applications relating to witness statements); and (2) a completed— (a) statutory declaration in form PE3 (Statutory Declaration – unpaid penalty charge); or (b) witness statement in form TE9.
Checked 2026-08-21 -
Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2022, regulation 23 (invalid notices — witness statement within 21 days)
legislation.gov.uk
This regulation applies where— (a) a county court makes an order under regulation 22, (b) the person against whom it is made ("P") makes a witness statement complying with paragraph (2), and (c) that statement is served on the county court which made the order, before the end of— (i) the period of 21 days, beginning with the date on which notice of the county court's order is served on P, or (ii) such longer period as may be allowed under paragraph (4). A witness statement must state one and only one of the following— (a) that P did not receive the enforcement notice; (b) that P made representations to the enforcement authority under regulation 5 of the 2022 Appeals Regulations but a notice of rejection was not received from that authority in accordance with regulation 6 of those Regulations; (c) that P appealed to an adjudicator under regulation 7 of those Regulations against the rejection by the enforcement authority of representations made under regulation 5 of those Regulations but— (i) P did not receive a response to the appeal, (ii) the appeal had not been determined by the time the charge certificate was served, or (iii) the appeal was determined in P's favour; (d) that P has paid the penalty charge to which the charge certificate relates. Where this regulation applies— (a) the order made under regulation 22 is deemed to have been revoked, (b) the charge certificate is deemed to have been cancelled, (c) in the case of a witness statement including a statement under paragraph (2)(a), the enforcement notice to which the charge certificate relates is deemed to have been cancelled, and (d) the district judge must serve written notice of the effect of this regulation on P and on the enforcement authority concerned. Service of a witness statement including a statement under paragraph (2)(a) does not prevent the enforcement authority from serving a fresh enforcement notice.
Checked 2026-08-21 -
Road User Charging (Enforcement and Adjudication) (London) Regulations 2001, regulation 19 (invalid notices — statutory declaration within 21 days; Congestion Charge/LEZ/ULEZ)
legislation.gov.uk
(b) the person against whom it is made makes a statutory declaration complying with paragraph (2); and (c) that declaration is, before the end of the period of 21 days beginning with the date on which notice of the county court's order is served on him, served on the county court which made the order.
Checked 2026-08-21 -
Form TE9: witness statement — traffic enforcement order outside London boroughs, or a parking charge in a London borough
HM Courts and Tribunals Service
Use this form to challenge a traffic enforcement order outside London boroughs or a parking charge in a London borough.
Checked 2026-08-21 -
Form TE7: apply for more time — traffic enforcement order outside London boroughs, or a parking charge in a London borough
HM Courts and Tribunals Service
Use this form to ask for more time to challenge a court order ('order of recovery') for traffic enforcement charges outside London boroughs, or a parking charge in a London borough.
Checked 2026-08-21 -
Form PE3: statutory declaration, unpaid penalty charge (TfL Congestion Charge/LEZ/ULEZ and other statutory-declaration regimes under PD 75 para 5.1(1))
HM Courts and Tribunals Service
I did not receive the Notice to Owner / Enforcement Notice / Penalty Charge Notice… I made representations about the penalty charge to the local authority concerned within 28 days of the service of the Notice to Owner / Enforcement Notice / Penalty Charge Notice, but did not receive a rejection notice. I appealed to the Parking / Traffic Adjudicator within 28 days of service of the rejection notice, but have had no response to my appeal… Important: Filing a false declaration knowingly and wilfully is a criminal offence under Section 5 of the Perjury Act 1911 and you may be imprisoned for up to 2 years or fined or both.
Checked 2026-08-17 -
Form PE2: application to file a statutory declaration out of time (statutory-declaration regimes: TfL Congestion Charge/LEZ/ULEZ and PD 75 para 5.1(1))
HM Courts and Tribunals Service
Application to file a statutory declaration out of time
Checked 2026-08-17
Next step
Not sure where you stand?
Tell us what has happened and we will work out what your options actually are: which stage you are at, what the fees should be, and what can still be challenged.
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