Ticket issued within the 10-minute grace period

If your paid or permitted time runs out in a parking bay, the council cannot ticket you for the first 10 minutes. This is not a courtesy and it is not guidance — regulation 5(2) of the 2022 enforcement regulations says in terms that no penalty charge may be imposed where a vehicle is left beyond the permitted period in a designated parking place and that overrun "does not exceed 10 minutes". A ticket issued inside those 10 minutes was issued without the power to issue it. Two conditions decide whether it covers you, and both come from the same regulation. You must have been in a designated parking place — a bay or car park established by a traffic order — so there is no 10 minutes on a yellow line, at any time. And you must have been within a "permitted parking period", meaning one you had paid for or one that was free: if you never paid, or never displayed the ticket or permit, the clock never started and the 10 minutes does not apply. Check the contravention time on the notice against the expiry time on your ticket. This regulation is for England; Wales has its own.

Legal basis

The Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/71), regulation 5(2): "But no penalty charge may be imposed under paragraph (1) in relation to a parking contravention where— (a) the vehicle is stationary in a designated parking place and is left beyond the permitted parking period, and (b) the period for which it is left beyond the permitted parking period does not exceed 10 minutes." Regulation 5(3) defines "designated parking place" as one established by virtue of an order under section 1, 6, 9, 32(1)(b), 35 or 45 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, and "permitted parking period" as a period of parking "that has been paid for as authorised by or under any order made relating to the designated parking place" or "for which no charge is payable" as so authorised. Regulation 5(4) makes regulation 5 subject to regulations 7 and 8, which concern the evidential basis for a penalty charge and the interaction with criminal proceedings and do not qualify the ten minutes. The Secretary of State's statutory guidance on civil enforcement of parking contraventions states the same rule and adds that a charge issued during the ten minutes "would be illegal"; Traffic Management Act 2004 s.87(2) requires an authority to have regard to that guidance. The guidance is corroboration — regulation 5(2) is the prohibition. The ground of representation is procedural impropriety under SI 2022/576 regulation 5(4)(f), or that the alleged contravention did not occur under regulation 5(4)(a). England only; SI 2022/71 does not extend to Wales.

How to identify this in your case

Compare the CONTRAVENTION time on the notice with the expiry time on your pay-and-display ticket, pay-by-phone confirmation or the bay's stated limit. This applies if 10 minutes or less had passed. Two conditions have to be true and both come from the regulation itself. You must have been in a designated parking place — a bay or council car park established by a traffic order; there is no 10 minutes on a single or double yellow line, at any time. And you must have been inside a permitted parking period, meaning one you had paid for or one that was free: if the tariff was never paid, or no ticket or permit was displayed, the period never started. England only — Wales has its own regulations.

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 Representations Team, Re: PCN [NUMBER] — Vehicle [REG] My paid or permitted parking time expired at [EXPIRY TIME]. The notice records the contravention at [CONTRAVENTION TIME], which is [N] minutes after expiry. Regulation 5(2) of the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022 provides that no penalty charge may be imposed in relation to a parking contravention where “(a) the vehicle is stationary in a designated parking place and is left beyond the permitted parking period, and (b) the period for which it is left beyond the permitted parking period does not exceed 10 minutes”. Both conditions are met. [LOCATION] is a designated parking place within regulation 5(3), being established by an order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, and the vehicle was within a permitted parking period because the tariff was paid — [receipt / pay-by-phone confirmation enclosed]. The authority therefore had no power to impose this charge. I ask for the notice to be cancelled. If it is not, I ask the authority to state which limb of regulation 5(2) it says is not satisfied. Yours faithfully, [NAME]

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Sources

SI 2022/71 regulation 5 — no penalty charge may be imposed for an overrun of 10 minutes or less in a designated parking place:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/71/regulation/5
Statutory guidance for local authorities in England on civil enforcement of parking contraventions (DfT) — grace periods:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-enforcement-of-parking-contraventions/guidance-for-local-authorities-on-enforcing-parking-restrictions
SI 2022/576 regulation 5(4) — grounds of representation:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/576/regulation/5