You had already sold the car before the ticket date

If you sold or transferred the car to someone else before the date of the alleged offence, you are not the person who should pay the penalty — that responsibility falls on whoever was using or keeping the car at the time. DVLA records can take several weeks to update after a sale, so the council may have sent the penalty notice to you simply because you still showed as the registered keeper. If you can show proof of the sale, the council must redirect the penalty to the person who actually had the car.

Legal basis

SSI 2021/177 reg 5(3); reg 8(4)(b)

How to identify this in your case

Sale date on bill of sale or V5C/2 slip is before the detection date.

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] LEZ Team, Re: PCN [PCN_NUMBER] Representation under reg 8(1); ground reg 8(4)(b). I sold the vehicle on [SALE_DATE], [N] days before the detection date of [DETECTION_DATE]. Evidence: — Bill of sale dated [SALE_DATE], buyer [BUYER_NAME / ADDRESS / DOB if known]; — Copy of V5C/2 sent to DVLA on [DATE]; — DVLA confirmation of disposal letter. Under reg 5(3) the penalty is payable by the user/keeper at contravention time — not me. Please cancel; council may serve a fresh PCN on [BUYER_NAME] under reg 9(5). Yours faithfully, [NAME]

Beat It writes this argument automatically

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You had already sold the car before the ticket date

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps