How to challenge a parking ticket in London
London has its own penalty levels and its own tribunal. Most national advice about parking tickets does not apply here.
Parking enforcement in London runs under its own rules, with its own penalty levels and its own tribunal. National advice, which is most of what a search returns, will send you to the wrong appeal body and quote the wrong figures.
What it costs
Driving into London: what the Congestion Charge and ULEZ cost you
The Congestion Charge rose to £18 in January. The two zones have different boundaries, different hours and different exemptions.
Boroughs sit in one of two bands, and each band has a higher and a lower rate depending on the seriousness of the contravention. In Band A the higher rate is £160 and the lower £110; in Band B they are £140 and £90. Each halves if paid promptly: £80, £55, £70 and £45 respectively. These levels rose in April 2025, the first increase since 2011.
Bus lane and minor moving traffic contraventions are not banded at all. They are £160 flat, £80 discounted, and TfL red routes are the same.
The deadline that is not fourteen days
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The discount period is fourteen days from service, with one exception that catches people out: where the penalty was issued by CCTV rather than by an officer at the roadside, it is twenty-one days. That is because the notice arrives in the post rather than on the windscreen.
Why challenging early costs you nothing
This is the single most useful thing to know and the least well known. If you make an informal challenge within fourteen days and it is rejected, you do not lose the discount. The discount period is suspended while the council considers the challenge and resumes when it answers.
The asymmetry is worth stating plainly. Challenging early and losing costs you the same as paying immediately. Waiting and then challenging can cost you double.
The stages, in order
An informal challenge comes first. It is not a statutory stage and each borough sets its own approach, which is why it is worth doing within fourteen days rather than relying on a deadline that may not exist.
If that fails, the council serves a Notice to Owner, which it must do within six months of the penalty. You then have twenty-eight days to make formal representations. If those are rejected you have a further twenty-eight days to appeal to the tribunal.
Miss the deadlines and a Charge Certificate adds 50% to the penalty. The debt can then be registered at court for £9 and passed to enforcement agents, whose own fees run to £75, then £235, then £110.
The right tribunal
London appeals are heard by the Environment and Traffic Adjudicators, administered by London Tribunals. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal, which a great deal of published advice names, covers England outside London and cannot help you here.
Appealing is free, and the penalty does not increase while the appeal is being considered. There is no financial risk in going to the adjudicator beyond losing the discount you had already lost by that stage.
The ticket that is not a ticket
A charge from a private car park operator is not a Penalty Charge Notice, whatever the paperwork calls itself. There is no Notice to Owner, no charge certificate and no route to London Tribunals. Those go to POPLA or to the Independent Appeals Service depending on which trade body the operator belongs to, and the deadlines are entirely different.
Questions this report answers
+How much is a parking ticket in London?
It depends on the borough’s band and the contravention. The higher rate is £160 in Band A and £140 in Band B; the lower rate is £110 and £90. Each halves if paid promptly. Bus lane and moving traffic penalties are £160 flat, £80 discounted.
+Do I lose the discount if I challenge and lose?
Not if you challenged within fourteen days. The discount period is suspended while the council considers your challenge and resumes when it replies, so an early challenge that fails costs you nothing.
+Where do I appeal a London parking ticket?
To the Environment and Traffic Adjudicators, administered by London Tribunals. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal named in most national guidance covers England outside London. Appealing is free and the penalty does not increase while it is considered.
+How long do I have to appeal?
Twenty-eight days to make formal representations after a Notice to Owner, and a further twenty-eight days to appeal to the tribunal after a Notice of Rejection.
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