London Parking and Traffic Enforcement Penalty Charges Consultation

There are a number of terms used throughout this information pack. To help explain what we mean, we’ve defined some key terms:

Contravention: This occurs when a motorist does not follow the parking, bus lane and moving traffic regulations.

Notice to Owner: The notice served on the owner of a vehicle issued with a penalty charge that remains unpaid after 28 days, allowing them to make formal representations.

Notice of Rejection: The letter sent by the borough in response to formal representations saying that these have been rejected and advising recipient that the penalty charge should be paid or an appeal made to the adjudicators.

Penalty Charge: The charge you may have to pay if you have received notification from a borough about not following parking, bus lane and moving traffic regulations.

Prescribed Period: defined period of time set in road traffic regulations.

Regulations: the road traffic rules Representation: is the formal written challenge made to the borough regarding the issue of a penalty charge Surcharge: is a further charge that increases the penalty charge if it remains unpaid..

Representation: The formal written challenge made to the borough regarding the issue of a penalty charge

Surcharge: A further charge that increases the penalty charge if it remains unpaid.

London Councils is the collective of local government in London. A cross-party organisation that represents the interests of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation.

London Councils’ Transport and Environment Committee is responsible for setting the following parking and traffic enforcement charges, fees and rates on borough roads:

• Penalties for parking contraventions (under the Traffic Management Act 2004)
• Penalties for bus lane contraventions (under the London Local Authorities Act 1996)
• Penalties for minor moving traffic contraventions such as one-way streets, banned turns and yellow box junctions (under the London Local Authorities and Transport for London Act 2003)
• Fees for releasing vehicles from clamps and pounds
• Fees for vehicle storage and disposal
• Discount rate for early payment of a penalty charge
• Surcharge rate for an unpaid penalty charge

Any changes to the current parking and traffic enforcement penalty charges, fees and rates will need to be approved by the Mayor of London and then the Secretary of State for Transport (who has the power to reject any such future proposals).

Parking, bus lane and moving traffic penalty charges have not been reviewed since 2010 and many of the charges have not changed since 2007.

The number of people receiving penalty charges has increased by 50% over the last 12 years and we are concerned that the current penalty levels are not set high enough to act as a deterrent.

The impact of inflation on penalty levels has meant that there has been a reduction in the real value of penalty charges over time.

Local government, the Mayor and central government share the same aims: to increase active travel, improve road safety and reduce emissions (both air quality and carbon).

Effective management of parking and traffic movement can contribute towards this.

Transport for London has similar responsibilities to London boroughs for setting charges on their own roads (Red Routes). In 2021, Transport for London increased parking, bus lane and moving traffic penalty charges on the roads they manage from £130 to £160.

Many parking, bus lane and moving traffic contraventions are dangerous and have impacts on the safety of other road users, how they travel and access public transport services in London.

There are two factors that impact the penalty charge amount if you are found to be parked in contravention.

Band A and Band B penalty charges depend on where in London you have parked in contravention.

Differential penalty levels, known as Higher level and Lower level, depend on the type of contravention.

This information refers to Part 1 of the consultation.

Since 2010, on and off-street parking penalty charges in London have been grouped into two bands: Band A and Band B.

Band A charges are higher and are in areas with greater parking pressures, such as central London and town centres.

Band B charges are lower and tend to be in outer London areas, where there is less pressure on parking.

Current Bandings can be seen in the map below:

An increasing number of boroughs now issue penalty charges at Band A level because they found that Band B levels were too low to prevent bad parking behaviour.

All London boroughs and the City of London Corporation continue to experience increasing issues with motorists breaking the parking rules.

This information refers to Part 3 of the consultation.

Higher and lower level charges were introduced in 2006. These are based on the type of contravention:

• Lower level charges apply to contraventions where parking is allowed but the restrictions have not been followed, such as overstaying in a pay and display bay.
• Higher level charges apply to contraventions where parking is not allowed such as on yellow lines or where parking is only allowed for certain vehicle or permit types.

A full list of the Higher and Lower Level Contraventions that are subject to enforcement is included in Appendix 1.

This section refers to Part 4 of the consultation.

London boroughs can take additional enforcement action and clamp and/or remove a vehicle parked in contravention, although clamping is very uncommon, and vehicle removals is dependent on whether the borough has access to a vehicle pound.

Clamping: if a vehicle is clamped, a ‘release’ fee will need to be paid as well as the penalty charge.

Removals: Vehicles removed to a pound will also need to pay a release fee as well as the penalty charge and if it is not collected within 24 hours, daily storage fees may also be added. If the vehicle is not collected within a prescribed time, the vehicle may be scrapped/disposed of, and a disposal fee may apply.

Relocations: Many boroughs relocate vehicles parked in contravention to another location, so that it is no longer in contravention. Unlike clamping and removals, relocations do not have any additional fees, but a penalty charge will still be issued for the original parking contravention.

Abandoned vehicles: These are vehicles that have been left unclaimed and are often unroadworthy on borough roads. Removal, storage and disposal fees also apply to vehicles that have been identified and removed as abandoned under environmental legislation. Any agreed changes to these fees would also affect these vehicles.

The current vehicle clamping, removal, storage, and disposal fees have not increased since 2007 and the current levels are: 

This section refers to Part 5 of the consultation.

The Transport and Environment Committee has responsibility for setting penalties for bus lane and moving traffic contraventions on borough roads, which currently carry the same penalty level as Band A, higher level parking contraventions of £130.

These penalties are set at the higher level to encourage drivers to comply, because not following these rules can be dangerous and has an impact on the flow of traffic and air quality, so we want to prevent motorists from breaking the rules.

On Transport for London roads, these charges are now £160.

A full list of the traffic contravention signs that are subject to civil enforcement is included in Appendix 2.

This section refers to Part 6 of the consultation.

A discount rate of 50% is applied to all parking, bus lane and moving traffic penalty charges if paid within 14 days of the date that the penalty charge notice was issued.

The current discount rate has worked very well, ensuring that a high number of penalties are paid within the discount period and means that the boroughs do not need to take any further action in recovering the penalty charges.

This section refers to Part 7 of the consultation.

A Charge Certificate is a legal notice issued by the borough. It increases the penalty charge by 50% if it remains unpaid after a prescribed time period and under certain circumstances.

These circumstances are detailed below:

A penalty charge has not been paid and no formal challenge (known as representations) has been made to the borough to request cancellation of the penalty charge before the end of a period of 28 days, beginning with the date a postal Penalty Charge Notice or Notice to Owner was served.

Representations have been made and a Notice of Rejection of Representations has been served by the borough and the penalty charge remains unpaid before the end of a period of 28 days, beginning with the date on which the Notice was served.

A Notice of Rejection of Representations has been served by the borough and no action has been taken to appeal the decision to the London Tribunals’ adjudication service before the end of a period of 28 days, beginning with the date on which the notice was served.

Full payment has not been made before the end of a period of 28 days, beginning with the date on which an adjudicator’s decision rejecting an appeal was served on the appellant.

Full payment has not been made following a period of 14 days, beginning with the date on which a withdrawal of an appeal was made by the appellant.