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Wales — camera ticket served more than 28 days after the alleged contravention

When a Welsh council uses a camera (or a warden was prevented from issuing a ticket at the roadside), the postal penalty charge notice must be SERVED within the 28-day period that BEGINS WITH the day of the alleged contravention — so that day counts as day 1, and day 28 is the last day service can happen. Service is not the same as posting: a first-class letter counts as served on the second WORKING day after it was posted, and weekends and bank holidays do not count. So a notice posted late in the month is often already out of time. There are only three situations that extend the 28 days, and the council must be able to point to one.

Legal basis

Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (General Provisions) (Wales) Regulations 2013 (WSI 2013/362), regulation 10(4) (a regulation 10 penalty charge notice may not be SERVED later than 28 days beginning with the contravention date), regulation 10(5) (the three extending cases) and regulation 10(6) (six months for the DVLA-delay case; four weeks where the notice replaces one cancelled under regulation 22(5)(c) or under regulation 5 of the Wales Representations and Appeals Regulations 2013). Service by post is governed by regulation 3(2): deemed effected on the second working day after the day of posting, unless the contrary is proved; regulation 3(3) excludes weekends and bank holidays from "working day".

How to identify this in your case

Count the day of the alleged contravention as day 1. Day 28 is the last day the notice can be SERVED. Then work out the service date: take the date the notice was posted and count forward two working days, skipping weekends and bank holidays. If that service date falls after day 28, the notice was served out of time. Because of the two-working-day rule a notice posted around day 26 is often already too late. This applies to Welsh councils only.

Sample appeal wording

The penalty charge notice in this case was posted on [DATE OF POSTING]. By regulation 3(2) of the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (General Provisions) (Wales) Regulations 2013 (WSI 2013/362), service of a notice sent by first class post is to be taken to have been effected on the second working day after the day of posting, working days excluding weekends and bank holidays under regulation 3(3). Service was therefore effected on [DEEMED SERVICE DATE]. Regulation 10(4) provides that a regulation 10 penalty charge notice may not be served later than the expiration of the period of 28 days beginning with the date on which the contravention occurred. The contravention occurred on [DATE OF CONTRAVENTION], which is the first day of that period, so the period expired at the end of [LAST DAY OF THE 28-DAY PERIOD]. Service was effected after that date and the notice was therefore served out of time. That period is extended only in the three cases set out in regulation 10(5): where the authority requested the relevant particulars from the Secretary of State within 14 days of the appropriate date and they had not been supplied before the 28-day period expired, in which case regulation 10(6)(a) allows six months from the appropriate date; or where this notice replaces an earlier regulation 10 penalty charge notice for the same contravention cancelled under regulation 22(5)(c), or under regulation 5 of the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2013, in which case regulation 10(6)(b) allows four weeks. I ask the authority to confirm which, if any, of those cases it relies upon and to provide the relevant dates. If it relies on none of them, I ask for the notice to be cancelled.

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

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Sources

Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (General Provisions) (Wales) Regulations 2013 (WSI 2013/362) reg.10(4)-(6) — the 28-day limit runs to SERVICE
WSI 2013/362 reg.3(2)-(3) — first class post is deemed served on the second working day after posting
Traffic Management Act 2004 Schedule 7