Ticket sent to wrong person: vehicle not registered

Normally, a penalty notice for a Low Emission Zone breach is sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle. But if the vehicle was not registered at the time of the breach — for example it had been scrapped, cloned, or stolen — the penalty can only be charged to the person who was actually driving or keeping it then. If the authority has simply used an out-of-date DVLA record to find you, the notice has been sent to the wrong person.

Legal basis

SSI 2021/177 reg 5(2); reg 8(4)(b) and (d)

How to identify this in your case

DVLA records show vehicle not currently registered/SORN/scrapped; you receive a PCN despite not being user/keeper at contravention time.

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] Representation under reg 8(1); ground reg 8(4)(b)/(d). Vehicle [VRN] was not, on the detection date, registered under s.21 VERA 1994 — it had been [scrapped on DATE / declared SORN on DATE / cloned (legitimate vehicle scrapped)]. Evidence: certificate of destruction / SORN confirmation / police crime reference. Under reg 5(2) penalty is payable by user/keeper at contravention time — not me. Please cancel. 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.

Ticket sent to wrong person: vehicle not registered

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps