LEZ appeals must go to the right tribunal

If you receive a penalty charge notice (PCN) for breaking a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) rule in Scotland, you make representations to the local authority first, and any formal appeal then goes to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland. Some councils give the wrong appeal route on the notice, or leave the First-tier Tribunal out entirely — occasionally still pointing drivers at the old Scottish Parking Appeals Service, which stopped handling appeals when its functions transferred to the tribunal on 1 April 2020. If you were sent to the wrong place, the council has not properly told you how to appeal, and your ticket may be challengeable on that basis.

Legal basis

Low Emission Zones (Emission Standards, Exemptions and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/177), regulation 10 — appeal to the First-tier Tribunal on the grounds in regulation 8(4), after representations to the local authority under regulation 8(1); Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014

How to identify this in your case

Council's NoR directs you to SPAS for LEZ appeals; or NoR omits FtT(Scotland) altogether; or council confuses parking PCNs with LEZ PCNs.

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.

Dear [COUNCIL], Re: PCN [PCN_NUMBER] — Notice of Rejection The NoR does not identify the correct appeal body for an LEZ penalty. Under regulation 10 of SSI 2021/177 the right of appeal is to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (General Regulatory Chamber), on the grounds set out in regulation 8(4) and after representations under regulation 8(1). The Scottish Parking Appeals Service has no jurisdiction over LEZ penalties and no longer hears parking appeals either — those functions transferred to the same tribunal on 1 April 2020 under SSI 2020/95. Please re-issue a compliant NoR identifying the correct tribunal — failing which I will appeal directly to the First-tier Tribunal and rely on this misdirection. Yours faithfully, [NAME]

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

Low Emission Zones (Emission Standards, Exemptions and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (SSI 2021/177), regulation 10
Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014