Moving traffic enforcement

Pay or appeal a Moving Traffic Penalty Charge Notice (PCN)

The penalty for not following the direction of road signs is £70, reduced to £35 if paid within 21 days. We will use number-plate recognition cameras to discourage illicit use of prohibited lanes and not following road signs. 

PCN's will be issued to offenders through the post.

Warning Notices

Warning Notices are issued to each vehicle keeper for a first offence. They are issued at each and every moving traffic site for the first six months after a camera has gone live.

Any further moving traffic contravention at the same camera location will result in the issue of a PCN.

Enforcement

The enforcement of moving traffic contraventions is carried out by a static approved camera. The camera takes a recording of all vehicles. After identifying vehicles that have contravened the restriction, an evidence pack is assembled and a PCN is issued by post. 

Enforcement is implemented at:

• Yellow Box Junction in Victoria Gardens junction with St Johns Street, Northampton
• No Entry except Buses in Deanshanger Road, Old Stratford
• Route for Buses only in Hermitage Way, Wootton, Northampton
• Banned Right Turn in Fishponds Road junction with Great Billing Way, Northampton
• Banned Turns in Horsemarket junction with Gold Street and Mare Fair, Northampton

All locations have 24/7 enforcement.

Cost

A moving traffic contravention penalty charge is £70, reduced to £35 if paid with 21 days.
Failure to pay within 28 days beginning with the date on which the penalty charge notice is served (deemed to be 2 working days after posting) may lead to further increases in the PCN amount, debt registration and ultimately enforcement.

How to pay

Before you pay:

• you should not make payment if you wish to challenge further because payment is acceptance of liability. By making payment you are therefore admitting the ticket was right. Payment will close the case and no further communication will be considered
• if you are paying more than one penalty charge, please ensure you enter each PCN number individually
• we do not accept payment by instalments, cash or by Visa Electron or American Express. Please see below for more information relating to our policy on instalment plans and the reasons why we do not accept these

Pay online

Pay by telephone

Call our 24-hour automated line on 0345 680 0153 (option 5).

Pay by post

Please ensure:

• you quote the PCN number on the back of the cheque or postal order
• you allow 2 working days for 1st class post and 5 working days for 2nd class post
• if you would like a receipt, that you enclose a stamped addressed envelope

To pay by cheque or postal order, please make it payable to West Northamptonshire Council and post to the following address:

Traffic Enforcement Team 

The Guildhall 

St Giles Square 

Northampton 

NN1 1DE

Appealing against a PCN

If you think you have been wrongly penalised, you can appeal against the notice on the following grounds:

• the alleged contravention did not occur
• the recipient:
  • never was the owner of the vehicle in question
  • had ceased to be its owner before the alleged contravention occurred
  • became its owner after the alleged contravention occurred
• at the time of the alleged contravention occurred, the vehicle in question was in the control of a person who did not have the consent of the owner
• the recipient is a vehicle-hire firm and:
  • the vehicle in question was at the material time hire from that firm under a hiring agreement
  • the person hiring it had signed a statement of liability acknowledging their liability in respect of any penalty charge notice served in respect of any relevant road traffic contravention involving the vehicle during the currency of the hiring agreement
• the penalty charge exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case
• there has been a procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority
• the order which is alleged to have been contravened in relation to the vehicle concerned, except where it is an order to which Part 6 of Schedule 9 to the RTRA 1984 applies, is invalid
• the enforcement notice should not have been served because-(i) the penalty charge has already been paid in full, or(ii) the penalty charge has been paid, reduced by the amount of any discount set in accordance with Schedule 9 to the TMA 2004, by the applicable date as specified in paragraph 1(3) of Schedule 3 to the 2022 General Regulations

You may not appeal your penalty if: 

• you have paid it as this closes the case and no longer allows you to appeal
• you have received a Charge Certificate as by this time it will be too late to appeal

Be aware that failing to pay a PCN could result in your local authority taking action against you.

You will not receive points on your licence for a PCN.

Representations against a PCN

If you choose a representation path:

• there are specific grounds on which a representation can be made and details are given on the PCN. These are stated above - Our Enforcement Protocol gives further details of representations and also mitigating circumstances
• when your representation is received, an experienced Officer who is employed by us will consider it. They will decide if there are grounds to cancel the PCN and you will be notified in writing of the decision
• if your representation is rejected, we will advise you on how to appeal to an Adjudicator

Appeal to an Adjudicator

If you are the registered keeper of the vehicle and have made a formal representation, which has been rejected by us, you have the right to appeal to an Adjudicator within 28 days of service of the Notice of Rejection.

An adjudicator is an experienced lawyer and is independent of us. The decision of the adjudicator is final and both you and we must adhere to the decision made.

You can find out more about a Parking Adjudicator by visiting the Traffic Penalty Tribunal website.

We are also a member of the Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London (PATROL) Adjudication Joint Committee. The Joint Committee publishes an Annual Statement of Accounts which is subject to External Audit.

If you decide to appeal to the adjudication service, the full amount is payable if your case is dismissed.

How to appeal

Online

If you have received a PCN through the post, you can appeal online and view related evidence. But by doing so, we will accept this as your proper consent to respond by email. 

Please always check your junk folder as our responses are sent using a ‘donotreply’ mailbox. You can add [email protected] to your safe senders list so that you don’t miss our response. 

You must challenge each case individually by inputting each unique PCN number.

If you have received an Order for Recovery of unpaid penalty charge, then you can no longer appeal to us. You must complete the Witness Statement and return it directly to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.

Write to us

Please provide as much information as you can to support your reasons why the PCN should be cancelled.

While we endeavour to respond to all correspondence received within 21 days, this is not always possible.

If your representations were made within 21 days of the date of Service/Notice on the PCN we may give you a further 14 days from the date of our response letter to pay the reduced charge of £35.

Please send your appeal to:

Traffic Enforcement Team

The Guildhall 

St Giles Square

Northampton

NN1 1DE

The Code of Practice for Civil Enforcement using CCTV/Camera Enforcement Equipment can be viewed below, alongside the Moving Traffic Enforcement Guidelines and the Contravention codes signs.

Last updated 31 January 2024