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The council gave you no chance to switch off, against its own idling policy

Honest and important: the law does NOT require an officer to warn you or ask you to switch off before issuing the £20 penalty — a notice is not void just because you got no warning, so do not claim it is. BUT most councils' own published idling-enforcement policies (and Government guidance) say officers should first ask the driver to switch off and give a reasonable chance to do so, only issuing a penalty if you refuse. If the officer issued the penalty with no request and no opportunity to switch off, the council departed from its own published policy — a fair-process reason to ask it to withdraw the penalty. Name the specific council's idling policy and describe what happened.

Legal basis

Under the Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (England) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/1808), reg 13 lets an authorised officer issue the £20 idling FPN with no statutory precondition — there is NO legal "must warn first" rule (the separate reg 12 power to order the engine stopped, whose refusal is a distinct offence, is not a precondition to the reg 13 penalty). The challenge is therefore NOT that the notice is unlawful, but that reg 20 empowers the authority to withdraw a fixed penalty that "ought not to have been issued"; where the officer departed from the issuing council's own published idling-enforcement policy or DEFRA guidance (which typically require a request and an opportunity to switch off first), that is a fair-process basis to request withdrawal under reg 20. (Scotland: SSI 2003/212 reg 20; Wales: WSI 2003/300.)

How to identify this in your case

An idling FPN issued on the spot with no request to switch off and no opportunity to do so, where the issuing council's published policy says officers ask first.

Sample appeal wording

formal

Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.

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Sources

Road Traffic (Vehicle Emissions) (Fixed Penalty) (England) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/1808) regs 12, 13, 20
DEFRA / local council idling-enforcement policy (policy layer, not primary legislation)