Code 28 PCN Appeal: Raised Carriageway

1. What does Code 28 mean?

Code 28 applies to parking next to a section of carriageway raised to the level of the footway, cycle track or verge in a special enforcement area. Section 86 requires the raising to assist pedestrian crossing, cycle access or vehicle access across the footway. This is the raised-road counterpart to a dropped kerb, not a general ban beside every speed cushion or uneven road surface.

Contravention

Code 28 applies to parking next to a section of carriageway raised to the level of the footway, cycle track or verge in a special enforcement area

Category

On-Street Parking PCNs

Procedure covered

Civil parking PCNs in England, including London; vehicle PCN or postal PCN, formal representations and independent appeal.

Formal representation deadline

28 days beginning with service of the Notice to Owner or postal PCN.

Formal decision deadline

56 days beginning with receipt of qualifying formal representations, including service of the authority's decision.

Initial discount

50%: 14 days beginning with PCN service, or 21 days for an approved-device postal parking PCN. Any later offer has its own terms.

Tribunal appeal deadline

28 days beginning with service of the Notice of Rejection; the adjudicator can allow more time.

London borough parking penalties

Band A: £160 higher level or £110 lower level. Band B: £140 higher level or £90 lower level. The location, contravention and applicable date determine the charge.

TfL red-route penalties

TfL currently lists £160, reduced to £80 during the applicable discount period. These are separate from borough parking bands.

Parking penalties outside London

England's standard bands are £60 higher/£40 lower or £70 higher/£50 lower. Check the authority's applicable band and any authorised departure. These are not UK-wide rates; other jurisdictions have separate schemes.

2. Was the Road Raised for a Protected Crossing or Access?

• Section 86 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 must apply to this location within a special enforcement area.
• The carriageway must be raised to meet the footway, cycle track or verge for pedestrian crossing, cycle access or vehicle access to premises.
• The vehicle must be adjacent to that qualifying raised section. A speed hump elsewhere or a raised pavement alone does not establish this allegation.
• Check any wholly authorised parking position or qualifying residential-occupier consent. Consent must not be for reward and cannot cover a shared driveway or public crossing point.
• Other section 86 exceptions remain conditional. Loading must involve premises, require this position and last only as long as necessary and no more than 20 minutes. Passenger assistance, unavoidable stops and specified works need their own facts.

3. Signs and restrictions for Code 28

In England, this statutory restriction does not require its own prohibition sign or yellow line. Show the road level, crossing or access function and vehicle position together.

A raised table may provide both traffic calming and a level crossing. Check what this feature actually does; neither the presence nor absence of a speed-hump sign resolves the section 86 test.

4. Grounds to challenge a Code 28 PCN

The statutory ground must match what happened. These code-specific points explain how to establish it.

• The council has not identified a carriageway raised to the relevant level for one of the statutory purposes. Show the feature's profile and surroundings, including whether it is simply a speed hump rather than the access feature alleged.
• The vehicle was not adjacent to the qualifying raised section. Provide wide and side-on photographs locating the whole vehicle and the start and end of the level crossing or access.
• The vehicle was wholly in an authorised parking place, or the limited residential-occupier consent exception applied. The consent must not be for reward and does not apply to a shared driveway.
• A statutory activity exception applied. For loading, explain why it could not reasonably take place without that position, why the duration was necessary and that it did not exceed 20 minutes; identify any different exception separately.

5. Statutory parking appeal grounds

• The alleged parking contravention did not happen, including where a relevant exemption applied or the restriction was not adequately signed.
• You were not the owner at the relevant time: you never owned the vehicle, sold it before the event or acquired it afterwards.
• The vehicle was under someone else's control without the owner's consent at the time of the alleged contravention.
• You are a vehicle-hire firm and the vehicle was hired under a qualifying agreement with a signed statement accepting PCN liability. Supply the hirer's name and address.
• The authority is demanding more than the penalty legally applicable to this case.
• The authority failed to comply with a statutory requirement in imposing or recovering the penalty: a procedural impropriety.
• The traffic order relied on is invalid, except an order subject to Part 6 of Schedule 9 to the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.
• For a postal PCN relying on prevented service or a qualifying drive-away under regulation 10(2)(b) or (c), nobody prevented the officer from attaching or handing over the PCN. This is not the ground for an approved-device postal PCN.
• The enforcement notice should not have been served because the penalty was already paid in full, or at the valid discounted amount by the applicable deadline. Paying a parking tariff is different from paying the penalty.

6. Applicable exemptions

The same section 86 conditions that govern dropped-footway enforcement apply to the corresponding raised carriageway. Necessary boarding or alighting, unavoidable stops, qualifying emergency use and specified necessary works are distinct from ordinary parking. A Blue Badge is not a blanket exception. In England a separate prohibition sign or yellow line is not required solely for this statutory restriction.

7. Evidence for your Code 28 appeal

• Side-on photographs showing whether the carriageway meets the footway, cycle track or verge.
• Wide photographs showing the crossing or access purpose and the vehicle's full position.
• The council's photographs and explanation identifying the section 86 feature.
• Parking authorisation, qualifying residential consent or the records supporting a loading or other statutory exception.

8. How to challenge your Code 28 PCN

These stages cover civil parking PCNs in England, including London, for on-street parking and council car parks. Private Parking Charge Notices, clamping or removal, and notices under other UK or specialist local schemes have separate procedures.

A PCN attached to the vehicle or handed to the driver can be challenged informally before a Notice to Owner is served. If a Notice to Owner arrives, its recipient must make formal representations against that notice even if an earlier challenge is still unanswered. Liability normally rests with the owner, not simply whoever was driving.

A postal parking PCN under the English 2022 scheme is itself the formal notice: make representations against it without a separate Notice to Owner. Formal representations against either notice must reach the authority within 28 calendar days beginning with the date of service. Count the service date as day one, not the date of the parking event. If submitting late, explain the delay; the authority may disregard late representations.

The initial 50% discount runs for 14 days beginning with service for a vehicle PCN or a postal PCN based on prevented service or a qualifying drive-away. An approved-device postal parking PCN has 21 days beginning with service. The discount deadline is separate from the formal representation deadline.

An early challenge may lead to a renewed discount if rejected, depending on the authority's policy and written reply. DfT recommends considering a further 14-day offer after rejecting a challenge received during the discount period; this is not an automatic entitlement. Check any new amount and expiry date in the reply.

Explain the feature's level, purpose and position in relation to the vehicle. Use context photographs rather than a close-up of the road surface. Where an exception is relied on, set out its particular conditions and supporting evidence.

1. Identify the current notice and use its challenge or formal-representation instructions. Submit through the issuing authority's stated service or postal address.
2. Give the PCN reference, vehicle registration, location and date. Select the relevant ground and explain the facts supporting it; identify any request for discretionary cancellation separately.
3. Attach clear copies of relevant photographs, payment or permit records, delivery evidence and correspondence. Link each document to the point it supports and retain the originals.
4. For ownership, hire or use without consent, include the relevant records. Provide known buyer or seller details for an ownership change, or hirer details and the qualifying hire documents where applicable.
5. Keep the submitted text, every attachment and the dated acknowledgement. For post, retain proof of posting and any delivery evidence; the formal deadline concerns the authority's receipt.

9. When the authority must respond

For formal representations under England's 2022 parking rules, the authority must consider your representations and supporting evidence and serve its decision within 56 days beginning with the date it receives them. This covers representations made in the required form and manner that are in time, or late representations the authority has not disregarded. Receipt is day one; the deadline concerns service of the decision, not simply writing or posting it.

If the authority fails to comply within that period, the representations are deemed accepted. It must cancel the relevant Notice to Owner or postal PCN, refund any sum paid in relation to it and send confirmation of cancellation. Keep the submission acknowledgement, notice and delivery records to establish the dates.

The statutory 56-day rule does not apply to an informal challenge against a vehicle PCN or to a request for photographs. An unanswered informal challenge does not remove the requirement to respond formally if a Notice to Owner is served.

10. If your parking challenge is rejected

An informal rejection is not a tribunal decision. You can pay on the terms offered, or make formal representations if a Notice to Owner is served. Address the reasons given and include the evidence again at the formal stage.

A formal Notice of Rejection gives 28 days beginning with its service to pay or appeal to the independent adjudicator. It must explain the appeal route. If your appeal is late, include the reasons for the delay; the adjudicator decides whether to allow more time.

A later Charge Certificate can increase the penalty by 50%, followed by debt registration and an Order for Recovery if unpaid. Those documents have distinct procedural remedies, not a fresh ordinary appeal against the parking event.

11. Appeal to the independent tribunal

Use the tribunal identified in the Notice of Rejection. London civil parking appeals go to London Tribunals; relevant appeals elsewhere in England and Wales go to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. Welsh notices follow their own regulations. There is no fee to lodge a parking tribunal appeal.

The statutory grounds above are the basis for the adjudicator's decision. You can also explain compelling circumstances, but mitigation alone is not a statutory ground: the adjudicator may recommend that the authority reconsider cancellation rather than allow the appeal on that basis.

If the appeal is allowed, the penalty is cancelled. If refused, the full penalty is normally payable under the decision's instructions; an earlier discount does not automatically continue through the tribunal stage.

1. Register the appeal using the rejection's reference or verification details and select the ground that applies. Save the registration confirmation.
2. Provide the PCN, formal representations, rejection and relevant supporting evidence. Explain which findings or reasons you dispute.
3. Read the authority's evidence and respond to any factual errors or missing points. Add further documents within the tribunal's stated evidence timetable.
4. Choose from the available hearing or written-decision options and follow the tribunal's directions. Keep the final decision with your case records.

Dropped footways and raised carriageways (family aggregate)

74 of 209 recorded cases were allowed (35.4%).