How to Challenge a Code 70 PCN: Car-Park Loading Bays

What a Code 70 PCN Alleges

Code 70 alleges parking in an off-street loading place or bay during restricted hours without loading. A delivery can involve activity away from the vehicle, so a short period with nobody beside it does not tell the whole story. The bay's conditions still determine which vehicles and activities qualify.

Council Car-Park PCNs: Informal Challenge or Formal Representations?

These steps concern statutory council parking enforcement. Check the issuing authority and legislation on the notice: a privately enforced Parking Charge Notice follows a different process, even where the car park or estate is associated with a council.

• PCN fixed to the vehicle or handed to the driver: send an informal challenge to the issuing authority. Explain the particular car-park condition, ground and evidence while the PCN is current.
• Notice to Owner: if the PCN remains unresolved and this notice is served, the owner makes formal representations. An earlier informal challenge does not replace the response to the Notice to Owner.
• Postal parking PCN: make formal representations against that notice rather than waiting for a Notice to Owner. In England, regulation 10 permits approved-device postal enforcement for off-street parking, as well as defined prevented-service or drive-away cases. Check the actual basis of postal service.
• Notice of Rejection: an independent appeal goes to the tribunal named in the rejection. For London civil parking it is London Tribunals; relevant cases elsewhere in England and Wales go to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

The off-street parking order establishes the local parking conditions; the enforcement regulations govern the notice and challenge procedure. Read the scheme and jurisdiction together. The English 2022 regulations should not be applied as though they govern every Welsh or other UK notice.

Car-Park PCN Deadlines and the Authority's Response

A PCN served on the vehicle or driver normally offers a 14-day discount. Send an informal challenge promptly and check whether the authority promises to re-offer the discount after rejection. A machine complaint or request for photographs is not necessarily registered as a challenge.

• A Notice to Owner normally requires formal representations within 28 days beginning with service. Reply to it even if the earlier PCN was disputed.
• For an English postal PCN under the 2022 scheme, formal representations are normally due within 28 days beginning with service. The initial discount is 21 days for an approved-device postal PCN, but normally 14 days for a prevented-service or qualifying drive-away postal PCN.
• For qualifying formal parking representations in England, the authority must serve its decision within the statutory 56-day period. This is not an automatic cancellation rule for an unanswered informal challenge.
• After a formal Notice of Rejection, the normal tribunal appeal period is 28 days beginning with service. Retain the notice, the evidence submitted and the acknowledgement.

London borough parking penalties are set at higher and lower levels: Band A is £160 or £110, and Band B is £140 or £90, before any applicable discount. The code and location determine the level. These are penalties, not parking tariffs; check the actual authority's amount and effective date. Welsh and other schemes require their own deadline and charging check.

Delivery Records and a Loading Timeline

• Delivery notes, collection confirmation or an invoice identifying the goods and premises.
• A short account from the recipient explaining the loading and necessary time inside.
• The council's observation notes, photographs and the loading-bay sign.
• Vehicle-class evidence or written permission if the bay restricts its users.

Hazard lights do not prove loading. Neither does the absence of an officer's photograph prove that none occurred. Explain the actual activity and address the observation period without inventing a universal five- or ten-minute allowance.

Show the Loading Activity Behind the Stop

• Loading or unloading was genuinely taking place. Identify the goods, premises and sequence, including necessary movement inside the building. Explain any gap in activity visible to the officer.
• The loading-only restriction was not operating. Compare the PCN time with the bay's own sign rather than the car park's general payment hours.
• The council identified the wrong bay or vehicle. Use wide photographs and the bay plan to show the space occupied and the restriction that actually applied.
• A permission or exemption covered the stop. Supply its conditions and the relevant vehicle or delivery records. If the bay is limited to a vehicle class, show that the vehicle qualified.

Buying goods, waiting for somebody or parking near a shop is not automatically loading. A Blue Badge does not automatically authorise use of a loading bay. Any local allowance for collection, boarding or authorised work must be checked against this parking order.

What to Include in a Code 70 Challenge

Describe the goods, destination and arrival-to-departure sequence. Link each interval to the supporting delivery record and explain why the loading could not be completed sooner. Identify the bay hours or permission separately if that is the ground relied on.

Send the Car-Park Challenge to the Issuing Authority

Use the council's online challenge form or postal address on the current notice. Include the PCN reference, registration, car park, disputed condition and the evidence supporting that point. Keep a copy of the completed explanation, every attachment and the dated submission confirmation.

For a Notice to Owner or postal PCN, use the formal-representation stage and applicable statutory ground. If the vehicle was sold, hired or used without consent in circumstances covered by a ground, provide the relevant documents. Saying another person drove the vehicle does not automatically remove the owner's liability for a council PCN.

If the Council Rejects the Car-Park Challenge

An informal rejection can be followed by formal representations when a Notice to Owner is served. A formal Notice of Rejection enables a tribunal appeal. Compare the council's reasons with the parking order, payment or permit records and photographs, and explain the issue still in dispute.

An allowed appeal cancels the penalty. If refused, follow the adjudicator's payment instructions. Missing the payment or appeal deadline can lead to a Charge Certificate increasing the penalty by 50%, followed by debt registration and an Order for Recovery. Those later documents have specific procedural remedies; they are not simply another ordinary appeal against the parking allegation.