14 October 2026
How long do you have to appeal a PCN?
For a private Parking Charge Notice, you usually have 28 days from the date of the notice to appeal or to pay the reduced sum. For a council Penalty Charge Notice stuck to the car, the discount challenge is often 14 days, with a later 28-day formal stage after a Notice to Owner. A POPLA code, which only arrives after a private operator rejects you, lasts 28 days from the rejection. The date that matters is the one printed on your letter, not a generic internet average.
The two kinds of PCN share the abbreviation and almost nothing else about the clock. Read the issuer before you count the days. A private notice names a company. A council notice names a local authority.
Private Parking Charge Notice: the 28-day appeal
Euro Car Parks, ParkingEye, and the other private operators print a payment deadline and an appeal deadline on the Notice to Keeper or the windscreen ticket. The usual pattern is:
- About 14 days to pay a reduced amount, often £60 instead of £100. Paying it ends the dispute.
- About 28 days to challenge the charge with the operator. If you appeal inside the reduced-rate window, a BPA or IPC operator should freeze the discount until it replies. If the appeal is rejected, you are normally offered a short further period to pay the reduced sum, plus the independent-appeal code.
- 28 days from the rejection to use a POPLA code, if the operator is a BPA member. IPC operators give an IAS deadline instead. Both are explained in what POPLA is.
There is a second, easily missed clock. Where the charge was issued by camera and no ticket was left on the car, the Notice to Keeper itself must be given within 14 days of the parking event if the operator wants keeper liability under POFA. That 14-day rule is about whether the keeper can be held liable. It is not the appeal deadline. Both are covered in what a Notice to Keeper is.
Council Penalty Charge Notice: 14 days, then 28
A council or Transport for London penalty uses statutory stages.
- Notice on the vehicle. Challenge it within 14 days and the discount is protected while the council considers the informal representations. The full penalty period on the face of the ticket is often 28 days.
- Notice to Owner. If you did not challenge in time, or the council rejects you, the Notice to Owner starts a 28-day period for formal representations. Losing the informal stage does not remove this later right.
- Notice of Rejection. You then have 28 days to appeal to the independent tribunal: the Traffic Penalty Tribunal outside London, or London Tribunals. Miss that window and the council can move to a charge certificate, which increases the sum.
Bus-lane and moving-traffic penalties are often sent by post with no windscreen stage, so the first 28-day formal period is the one on the postal notice. Do not wait for a second letter that is not coming.
Can you appeal a parking ticket after 28 days?
After the date on a private notice, the operator does not have to hold the reduced amount, and it may send the file to a debt collector. You can still write. Operators do cancel late when the evidence is obvious: a paid session, a clearly broken machine, or a Notice to Keeper given outside the POFA window. A late letter is weaker than an in-time appeal because enforcement is no longer paused as of right.
A POPLA or IAS code is stricter. When the 28 days run out, that code is spent. You cannot reopen the independent stage by asking the operator for a new code as a favour. If a County Court claim arrives later, you can still file a defence. That is a different process from the appeal on the notice.
For a council penalty, a late formal representation can be disregarded. The tribunal can consider a late appeal only in limited circumstances, such as the rejection never arriving. Do not plan on that exception. The private charge or council penalty guide separates the two routes.
What to do on the day the notice arrives
- Write down the date of the notice, the reduced-payment date, and the appeal date. Put the appeal date in a calendar with a reminder a week earlier.
- Photograph the signs, the bay, and any receipt before you leave the car park, if you still can. Evidence gathered in week one is more useful than a reconstruction in week four.
- Appeal in writing through the operator’s portal or the address on the notice, and keep the confirmation. Submission steps are in how to submit a parking appeal.
- Do not pay the reduced sum if you intend to appeal. Payment is treated as accepting the charge.
If the deadline is this week, send a clear appeal now and add photographs afterwards if the portal allows a further comment. A short in-time appeal beats a perfect letter that arrives on day 29.