Council PCN
Notice to Owner: what it means and what to do
Independent site, not a council, operator or appeals service. You pay or appeal only through the channel printed on your notice.
Enter the date your windscreen notice was issued: the tool gives the first and last dates on which the council can post the Notice to Owner.
When can the Notice to Owner arrive?
Earliest posting
30 November 2026
| Latest | 2 May 2027 |
| Then representations | 28 days from service |
| Council answer | within 56 days |
A Notice to Owner is the formal letter a council sends to the registered keeper of a vehicle when a Penalty Charge Notice fixed to the car, or handed to the driver, has not been paid. In England the council may serve it once 28 days have passed since the penalty notice was served without payment, and it must serve it within 6 months. From that point the reduced rate has gone and the full penalty is due, but the Notice to Owner also opens your strongest right to challenge: 28 days, beginning with the day it is served, to make formal representations on one of the grounds listed in the appeal regulations. The council must decide within 56 days, and if it rejects them you can appeal to an independent adjudicator. If you neither pay nor make representations, a charge certificate can follow and the penalty rises by 50%. A camera notice sent by post works differently: it already acts as the Notice to Owner, so there is no separate letter.
Last day for the reduced rate
Reduced rate until
15 November 2026
| Notice served on | 2 November 2026 |
| Period | 14 days beginning with service |
England: SI 2022/71 reg 10. A postal notice is served on the second working day after posting.
Rules, amounts and dates read by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
When the letter can arrive
Take a penalty fixed to a windscreen on 2 November 2026. The council cannot serve a Notice to Owner before 30 November 2026, the day after the 28 days have run out, and it must serve it no later than 2 May 2027, 6 months on (SI 2022/71, regulation 20). A Notice to Owner posted is served on the second working day after posting. The tool above gives both ends of this window for your own date.
| Your situation | What the Notice to Owner means |
|---|---|
| You paid the reduced rate in time | it should not arrive; if it does, send proof of payment |
| You challenged informally and heard nothing | make formal representations and mention your challenge |
| Your informal challenge was rejected | make formal representations within 28 days, or pay the full amount |
| You did nothing | pay the full amount or make representations within 28 days |
| The notice came by post after a camera recording | that notice was already the Notice to Owner |
The 28 days that matter most
Formal representations are the stage where the law lists what the council must consider. The grounds include: the contravention did not occur; you were not the owner at the time; the vehicle was taken without consent; it was on hire and the hirer accepted liability; the penalty exceeded the applicable amount; there was a procedural impropriety; the traffic order is invalid; and the penalty had already been paid (SI 2022/576, regulation 5). The council can also cancel on compelling reasons outside the list. Our formal representations page goes through each ground, and its letter builder drafts the text.
The council has 56 days to decide. If it accepts, the penalty is cancelled. If it rejects, the notice of rejection gives you 28 days to pay or appeal to the adjudicator.
If you do nothing
When the 28 days given by the Notice to Owner end without payment or representations, the council may serve a charge certificate, which increases the penalty by 50% (regulation 21). Fourteen days after that, it can ask the county court to register the debt. Each step is described on our charge certificate page.
Check the letter itself
A Notice to Owner must contain specific information: the date of the penalty notice, the contravention, the amount, how to pay, how to make representations and the grounds. It must also be served within the 6-month limit. A letter that is missing these details, or arrives too late, may itself be the procedural impropriety that justifies cancelling the penalty. Compare it with the original notice: dates, registration and location should all match.
The second mini-tool above recalculates the end of the reduced-rate period, useful if you are checking whether a payment you made was in time. As always, the tools here read the regulations and leave the decision to the council and the adjudicator; payment and representations go only through the channels printed on your notice.