Wrong penalty band used — charge is too high

Outside London, a council's parking penalties come from a table of bands, and each band has two levels: a higher one for the contraventions the law calls "higher level contraventions", and a lower one for everything else. Which contraventions count as higher level is fixed by law in a closed list — a council cannot move a contravention into the higher level to suit itself. So if the code on your notice is not on that list but you have been charged the higher-level amount for your council's band, the charge is set at the wrong level. In London the levels are set by the London authorities jointly rather than by the same guidelines, so check the London schedule if your ticket is a London one.

Legal basis

Traffic Management Act 2004 Schedule 9 (setting the levels of penalty charges); Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/71) regulation 26, under which the Secretary of State's guidelines for the level of charges outside Greater London "are set out in Schedule 3", and Schedule 3 Part 1 paragraph 1(1), which requires penalty charges to be set "for higher level contraventions, at the level specified in column (2) of one of the bands in Table 1" and, for all other contraventions, "at the level specified in column (3) of the band selected for higher level contraventions"; Schedule 3 Part 1 paragraph 2, which lists exhaustively which contraventions are "higher level contraventions"; regulation 24 for Greater London, where the levels are set by the London authorities jointly under Part 2 of Schedule 9 to the TMA 2004.

How to identify this in your case

Take the contravention code printed on your notice (a two-digit number such as 01, 02, 12, 16, 30 or 40) and find what it describes. Then check whether that description is in the closed list of "higher level contraventions" in Schedule 3 Part 1 paragraph 2 of S.I. 2022/71 — broadly waiting and loading restrictions, unauthorised parking in an on-street parking place, double parking, dropped footways and pedestrian crossings. If it is not on that list, the lower level for your council's band applies. Compare that with the amount actually charged. This applies outside Greater London; a London ticket is set under a different route.

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] I make representations against this penalty charge notice on the ground that the penalty has been set at the wrong level. The contravention code recorded is [CODE], which is [DESCRIBE THE CONTRAVENTION]. Under regulation 26 of the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022, the Secretary of State's guidelines for the level of charges outside Greater London are set out in Schedule 3 to those Regulations. Schedule 3 Part 1 paragraph 1(1) requires penalty charges to be set "for higher level contraventions, at the level specified in column (2) of one of the bands in Table 1" and, for all other contraventions, "at the level specified in column (3) of the band selected for higher level contraventions". Paragraph 2 of that Part sets out exhaustively which contraventions are higher level contraventions. The contravention alleged here is not among them. The charge should therefore have been set at the column (3) level for the band this authority has adopted, and I am charged £[CHARGED AMOUNT]. Please confirm which band the authority has adopted, recalculate the charge at the correct level, and cancel or reissue this notice accordingly. Yours faithfully, [NAME]

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Wrong penalty band used — charge is too high

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps