Civil Parking Enforcement is a semi judicial process and all actions taken by the council must be according to legislation and within the laid down timescales. The process of enforcement of a PCN can be completely automatic once it has been issued, if neither a payment nor a challenge is received against that PCN.
The parking computer system will take a PCN through the various legal stages, issuing all three statutory notices to the person notified by the DVLA records as being the keeper of the vehicle at the time the contravention occurred.
These are the stages and approximate timescales involved in the lifespan of an unpaid or unchallenged PCN:
If no correspondence is received from the owner during the time the above action is taking place, the payment due must be registered as a debt in the County Court and a warrant issued to bailiffs to collect the debt. At this point, the payment due to the council would be £110.00 or £80.00 (depending on whether it was a higher or lower rate penalty to start with). All bailiff companies add on charges (and VAT) to this debt and so the amount payable can escalate to several hundred pounds.
Hastings Borough Council would prefer not to have to appoint bailiffs but it is sometimes the only way to progress a PCN through to its conclusion if vehicle owners do not enter into correspondence with us or ignore everything we send out. Sometimes it is those least able to pay who end up with a large debt outstanding and this can be avoided by simply asking for help and guidance long before the matter is passed out of our hands.
Those motorists who do offer a challenge will be given guidance at all stages through the process and the outcome of the matter very much depends upon the circumstances of the individual case.
Motorists who persistently avoid paying PCNs are likely to find their vehicles clamped and removed. If this happens, a statutory release fee is payable. See further details on our Clamping and Removal of Vehicles webpage.
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This page last updated: 28/03/2008