PCN sent to wrong address, never received

When a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) — the official fine notice — is posted to the address held for your vehicle at the DVLA, but that address was out of date and you never received it, you can ask for the PCN to be re-issued to your correct address. This restores your full right to challenge the fine from the beginning.

Legal basis

Road User Charging Schemes (Penalty Charges, Adjudication and Enforcement) (England) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/1783) regulation 8(3)(g) — representations that "there has been a procedural impropriety on the part of the charging authority" — which regulation 8(4) defines as a failure to observe any requirement imposed on it by the Transport Act 2000 or by those Regulations, including a step taken otherwise than in accordance with the conditions subject to which, or at the time when, it is authorised or required to be taken; regulation 8(2) allows 28 days from service. In Greater London the equivalent is Road User Charging (Enforcement and Adjudication) (London) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/2313) regulation 13. Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 for the registered-keeper address record.

How to identify this in your case

Recipient only became aware of PCN at debt collection / late demand stage; can prove DVLA address change history.

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.

To: [Council/TfL] CAZ/LEZ Team Re: PCN [PCN_NUMBER] I did not receive the original PCN. My DVLA address at the time was [OLD_ADDRESS] but I had moved to [NEW_ADDRESS] on [DATE]. Evidence: [tenancy agreement, council tax, redirect from Royal Mail]. Under principles of natural justice and the CAZ/LEZ Charging Orders, a recipient must have actual notice to exercise rights. Please re-issue with a fresh appeal window or cancel. Yours faithfully, [Keeper 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.

PCN sent to wrong address, never received

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps