Welsh council moving traffic enforcement — procedural failures
From May 2022, Welsh councils were allowed to start issuing penalty charge notices (PCNs) for moving traffic offences such as entering a yellow box junction, ignoring a no-entry sign, or making a banned turn. Before a council could lawfully do this, three things had to be in place: a formal approval order from Welsh Ministers, certification of the camera equipment in both English and Welsh, and a public awareness campaign run before enforcement started. Many Welsh councils skipped one or more of these steps, which means early PCNs issued by those councils may be open to challenge.
Legal basis
Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (Wales) Regulations 2022 (WSI 2022/?); Traffic Management Act 2004 Pt 6 as applied to Wales; Welsh Ministers' Designation Orders
How to identify this in your case
FOI the Council to confirm: (a) date of Welsh Ministers' designation, (b) device type-approval certificate, (c) bilingual certification, (d) the publicity / warning-notice period before enforcement began.
Sample appeal wording
Dear Sir/Madam, Re: PCN [PCN_NUMBER] — alleged moving traffic contravention Moving traffic civil enforcement in Wales requires (a) the Welsh Ministers' designation of the Council under the 2022 Regulations, (b) the use of an approved device certified for use in Wales, and (c) compliance with the publicity and warning-notice obligations attaching to first enforcement at the location. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 / regulation 4 of the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Representations and Appeals) (Wales) Regulations 2022, please supply: (i) a copy of the Welsh Ministers' designation order, (ii) the device type-approval certificate, (iii) evidence that the location was operating under formal warning-notice phase only, or that the warning-notice phase had ended in respect of this location. If the Council cannot produce these, the PCN is unlawful and must be cancelled. Yours faithfully, [NAME]
Replace [PARKING DATE], [NtK DATE] etc. with your own dates before sending.
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Scan my ticketSources
- legislation.gov.uk (WSI 2022 series)
- gov.wales — Moving Traffic Enforcement Statutory Guidance
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