Notice to owner or enforcement notice

When you receive the notice to owner or enforcement notice, you can:

• pay the full charge within 28 days
• make formal representations to the council

If you do nothing, a charge certificate will be sent and the charge increases by 50%.

Charge certificates

If the penalty remains unpaid more than 28 days from the date of service of a postal PCN or a notice to owner or enforcement notice, we will send a charge certificate by post. This increases the charge by 50% of the original amount and gives the registered vehicle keeper 14 days to pay. There is no right of appeal at this stage. If you receive a charge certificate, you can no longer make a formal representation against the PCN.

If you were not aware of the contravention prior to receiving the charge certificate, or if you received no reply to a representation or an appeal, you will have to wait to make a statutory declaration/witness statement.

Order for recovery

If the registered owner of the vehicle does not respond to the charge certificate within 14 days, we  may register the debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court, and an order for recovery will be served. The order for recovery includes information on making a statutory declaration/witness statement, and you can contact the TEC if you have an enquiry about this stage of the process.

You can contact the Traffic Enforcement Centre by calling 0300 123 1059.

At this point, the outstanding amount on the PCN will increase by £10, which is a surcharge for the cost of registering the order. You have 21 days from the date of service to pay the outstanding amount on the order for recovery.

If you do nothing, the TEC may grant authority for a warrant of control to be issued and a certified enforcement agent will be asked to recover the debt from you. At this stage the case is out of the our hands and actions by the enforcement agent against you may bring additional charges.

Warrant of control (enforcement agents)

If the penalty charge has not been paid within 21 days of the order for recovery being served, we will ask for a warrant of control. Once granted, it will be passed to our certified enforcement agent to recover the amount owed.

If you have been contacted about a PCN that you did not know about, or thought was paid or cancelled, you may contact the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) requesting an out-of-time witness statement. Once notification has been received from TEC, the enforcement agent will be put on hold temporarily.

A certified enforcement agent is allowed to charge recovery fees for every letter, visit and action taken as part of the effort to recover the outstanding amount. Recovery actions are taken on our behalf by these enforcement agents:

Becontree Collection Services - 020 4513 7170

CDER Group - 0844 576 3620

Equita - 01604 628 360

Just Debt Ltd - 020 3848 9068

Marston Group - 0845 074 3749

Newlyn PLC - 01604 633 001

Reventus Ltd - 020 8125 35 45

Whyte & Co Enforcement Services - 0845 458 9429