How amounts, deadlines and letters are worked out

Every page and every tool reads one parameter file of amounts and time limits, read on the official texts on 26 October 2026, each value with its source. No amount or number of days is typed into a page; when a rule changes, the file changes and every page follows. Automated tests check each rule against an example worked by hand from the text.

1. Which ticket

The checker asks who sent the notice, its heading, how it reached you and where you parked. Councils and Transport for London issue Penalty Charge Notices under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 in England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. The police issue fixed penalties. Companies issue parking charges on private land, and a company notice headed like a council notice is flagged, because the Private Parking Code bans notices that deliberately resemble a council PCN.

2. Counting days

• A period "beginning with" a day counts that day as day one: the 14 days beginning with 2 November end on 15 November.
• A notice sent by post is served or delivered on the second working day after posting, unless the contrary is shown (SI 2022/71 reg 3(3) for council notices in England; Schedule 4 paras 8(6) and 9(6) for private notices). Working days leave out weekends and bank holidays, read from the GOV.UK list for each of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, 2025 to 2027.
• Where a text says "within 28 days of" without saying how to count, we count the starting day as day one, which gives the earlier, cautious date, and the tool says so.
• Dates that depend on a later letter, such as the Notice to Owner, are shown as the earliest they can fall and labelled "earliest".

3. Council penalties

England outside London: two bands from Schedule 3 to SI 2022/71, band 1 at £60 or £40 and band 2 at £70 or £50; half within 14 days of service (21 for a camera notice by post); +50% after a charge certificate; Notice to Owner after 28 days unpaid; representations within 28 days, a council decision within 56 days and then 28 days to pay or appeal (SI 2022/576). London: bands A (£160 or £110) and B (£140 or £90) since 7 April 2025, TfL red routes £160 (London levels, TfL). Wales: £70 or £50 (WSI 2008/613). Scotland: up to £100 since 1 April 2023 (Transport Scotland); a consultation on new levels closed on 30 January 2026 and no result is applied here until published. Northern Ireland: £90, £45 within 14 days, £135 after a charge certificate (nidirect).

4. Private parking charges

The keeper liability dates come from Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012: after a windscreen notice, a Notice to Keeper delivered between day 29 and day 56; without one, within 14 days beginning the day after the parking ended; proceedings against the keeper not before 28 days after the Notice to Keeper. The limits come from the Private Parking Code laid on 20 October 2026: cap £100, at least 40% off within 14 days, appeal within 28 days, debt recovery add-on up to £70, a £20 reduced charge in listed cases, and the consideration and grace periods of Annex B. The tools say that these limits apply once the Code is in force. The earliest date is computed from section 2 of the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019: a 40-day period beginning with the day it was laid, then issue, then 21 days, which gives 20 December 2026 if Parliament does not adjourn for more than four days in that time.

Second-stage appeals: POPLA gives 28 days from the operator's rejection, with a 10-digit verification code (POPLA). We found no single figure for the IAS that the official pages state consistently, so the IAS tool asks for the period printed in your rejection letter instead of assuming one.

5. Court and enforcement

A county court claim form is deemed served on the second business day after posting (CPR 6.14); acknowledgment within 14 days (CPR 10.3); defence within 14 days, or 28 if you acknowledged (CPR 15.4). A letter of claim gives 30 days to reply (Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims). Enforcement agents' fees: £79 compliance, £247 enforcement and £116 sale, plus 7.5% above £1,900, from 1 May 2026 (Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014).

6. Letters

The letter builder joins sentences written by us, one per ground you tick. For council notices in England the grounds follow regulation 5(4) of SI 2022/576; for private charges they follow Schedule 4 and the Appeals Charter of the Code. The letter is a drafting aid, not legal advice: it does not judge whether a ground applies to you.

7. Checks and updates

A script (scripts/update-data.py) re-reads the GOV.UK bank holidays, the penalty levels of Schedule 3 to SI 2022/71 and the GOV.UK page of the Code, and stops with an error if anything differs from the parameter file, until a person has read the change. It is meant to run every month and whenever a change is announced.

8. What the site does not do

• It does not decide whether a contravention occurred, whether signs were adequate or whether an appeal will succeed.
• It does not take payments, file appeals or contact councils or operators.
• It does not keep anything you type: the tools run in your browser.

Method version of 26 October 2026. A figure that looks wrong: contact.