Force Majeure — Severe Weather, Road Closure Trapping Vehicle

If severe weather, a police cordon, a flood or a road closure stopped you moving your vehicle, there are two quite different arguments and it matters which one you have. Where the ticket is for double parking or for parking across a dropped kerb, the law says outright that stopping does not count as parking where "the driver is prevented from proceeding by circumstances beyond his control or it is necessary for him to stop to avoid an accident". If that is what happened, there was no contravention at all — this is a knockout point, not a plea for sympathy, and you should say so in those terms. For every other kind of ticket there is no equivalent provision. What you are asking for is the council to use its discretion to cancel, which it has but does not have to use, and councils do cancel for genuine emergencies. Evidence is what decides it: Met Office records, a police incident number, news reports of the closure, a recovery callout. On a private parking charge there is no equivalent right either — the industry Code lists breakdown as a mitigating circumstance but not weather or a cordon — so that is a discretionary request too. Be honest about which of the two you are making; asking for discretion and calling it a legal right invites a refusal.

Legal basis

Traffic Management Act 2004 s.85(7) (double parking) and s.86(8) (dropped footways), in identical terms: "References in this section to parking include waiting, but do not include stopping where— (a) the driver is prevented from proceeding by circumstances beyond his control or it is necessary for him to stop to avoid an accident". These apply in a special enforcement area and extend to England and Wales. Where the exception applies the conduct is not parking and no contravention arises. For all other contraventions there is no statutory forced-stopping exception; the argument is a request that the enforcement authority exercise its discretion to cancel, which exists but confers no right. For private parking charges the Single Code of Practice v1.1 Annex F.3(c) covers breakdown only, and no case type covers weather, flooding or a cordon, so that too is a discretionary request.

How to identify this in your case

At the time of the contravention you were prevented from moving or returning to your vehicle by circumstances beyond your control — severe weather, a police cordon, flooding, a road closure or a civil emergency — and the event can be evidenced from a public source such as Met Office records, a police incident number or a news report. Check the contravention code first: codes 26 (double parking) and 27 (dropped footway) carry a statutory exception for forced stopping; every other code does not, and the argument is then a request that the authority use its discretion.

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.

I am writing about penalty charge notice [reference], issued on [date]. I was prevented from moving my vehicle by circumstances beyond my control. On [date], [describe what happened: a police cordon sealed the area from approximately [time] until [time] / flooding made the street impassable / snowfall made driving unsafe], and I could not return to or move the vehicle until [time]. [IF THE CONTRAVENTION IS DOUBLE PARKING (code 26) OR PARKING AT A DROPPED FOOTWAY (code 27), INCLUDE THIS PARAGRAPH:] Section 85(7) of the Traffic Management Act 2004 (and section 86(8) in the case of a dropped footway) provides that references to parking "do not include stopping where— (a) the driver is prevented from proceeding by circumstances beyond his control or it is necessary for him to stop to avoid an accident". On the facts set out above the vehicle was stopped, not parked, and no contravention arose. I ask for the notice to be cancelled on that basis. [FOR ANY OTHER CONTRAVENTION, INCLUDE THIS PARAGRAPH INSTEAD:] I recognise that there is no statutory exception covering this contravention, and that I am asking the authority to exercise its discretion to cancel. I ask it to do so on the ground that the circumstances were genuinely outside my control and are independently evidenced. Supporting evidence: - [Met Office observations for [location] on [date]] - [Police incident reference [number]] - [News report: [publication], [date], "[headline]"] - [Photographs taken at the time] I would be grateful if you would confirm the outcome in writing.

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Sources

Traffic Management Act 2004 s.85(7) — forced stopping is not parking (double parking):
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/18/section/85
Traffic Management Act 2004 s.86(8) — forced stopping is not parking (dropped footways):
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2004/18/section/86
Private Parking Sector Single Code of Practice v1.1 (BPA/IPC), Annex F.3(c) — breakdown only:
https://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/AOS/Sector%20Code%20Templates/sectorsingleCodeofPracticeVersion1.1130225.pdf