CCTV Penalty Notice Sent Too Late

When a council outside London uses a camera to issue a parking or traffic penalty in England, it normally has 28 days from the date of the alleged contravention to post the notice to you. Miss that and it had no power to serve it, which is a ground to have it cancelled. Check one thing first, because it is the usual answer: the law gives the council SIX MONTHS instead of 28 days if it asked the DVLA for the keeper's details within 14 days of the contravention and the DVLA had not supplied them by day 28. Late camera tickets are late for exactly that reason more often than not. There is also a four-week extension where an earlier notice for the same contravention was cancelled. So the argument is worth making, but ask the council to state which time limit it says applies and to evidence the date it requested your details — do not simply assert that 28 days have passed.

Legal basis

The Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/71), regulation 10(6): an enforcement authority may not give a penalty charge notice under that regulation after the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the contravention date. That limit is subject to regulation 10(8), which allows six months from the contravention date where the authority requested the vehicle keeper's particulars from the Secretary of State within 14 days of the contravention and they had not been supplied before the 28 days expired, and four weeks where an earlier penalty charge notice for the same contravention was cancelled under regulation 23(5)(c) or under regulation 6 of the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (England) Regulations 2022.

How to identify this in your case

Look at the date of the alleged offence on your penalty notice, then check the date the notice was posted or handed to you. If more than 28 days passed between those two dates, this ground may apply to you.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

Deadline. A late submission can be turned down without your argument being read. Check your notice for the deadline and how it is counted.
Paying may end it. Paying can count as accepting the notice and can close a challenge already under way. Part-paying or acknowledging an old debt can also revive a time limit that had expired.
The amount can change. Check what happens to the sum if you challenge — it may be held, re-offered lower, or keep rising, and fees or enforcement can continue meanwhile.
Use the official route. Use the method, recipient and form your notice specifies, with any reference, evidence and signature it asks for. Sent elsewhere, it may not count.
Only say what is true. Do not copy any statement of fact unless it is true for you, and check the legal point still applies. Delete what does not fit. It may be treated as your statement.
Careful what you volunteer. Avoid unnecessary admissions — naming the driver or accepting responsibility can remove arguments. But answer anything you are legally required to answer, and do include the evidence your ground needs.
Keep the record. Keep what you sent, the attachments, any receipt, and the reply. Note the next deadline.

Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.

The penalty charge notice was served by post on [DATE], more than 28 days after the alleged contravention on [DATE]. Under regulation 10(6) of the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/71), an enforcement authority may not give a postal penalty charge notice after the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the contravention date. That period is extended only in the cases set out in regulations 10(7) and (8): where the authority asked the Secretary of State for the keeper particulars within 14 days of the contravention date and they had not been supplied before the 28 days expired, in which case it has six months from the contravention date; or where this notice replaces an earlier one for the same contravention that was cancelled under regulation 23(5)(c) or under regulation 6 of the 2022 Appeals Regulations, in which case it has four weeks. I ask the authority to confirm which, if any, of those cases it relies on and to provide the relevant dates; otherwise the notice was given out of time and I ask for it to be cancelled.

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Scan your PCN — our AI checks if this ground applies to your specific ticket, drafts a properly-cited appeal letter, and sends it for you where the council takes email — guiding you through their own online form where they use one, so you press submit. The win fee is only charged if you win.

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Sources

Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/71) reg.10(6)-(8)