Penalty Charge Notices (Parking Tickets)

Pay a penalty charge notice.

Payment details are listed on the penalty charge notice. Payment details are listed below.

• By phone 01233 331111 (24 hours) using a debit or credit card
• Online at www.ashford.gov.uk/pay. There is a designated Parking section

(This guide is provided by Patrol).
If a challenge or representation is made during the relevant period, i.e. before the penalty charge notice has progressed to the stage when a Charge Certificate has been issued (Step 3 on the attached guide), we will place the case on hold until we are able to consider your case. The case will not be progressed until it has been considered by Parking Services. We are not obliged to put a case on hold at a later stage, and may do so only at our discretion.
Consequently, if a warrant has been issued for recovery we will not normally put the case on hold. You will need to either contact the enforcement agents direct or get independent legal advice.

View the penalty charge notice progression [pdf] 773KB Initially, you are expected to contact the enforcement authority to make a challenge against your penalty charge notice (PCN). Details of how to do this are stated on the penalty charge notice itself. You can also make a challenge or representation online.
It is only after we have rejected your representation, and served a Notice of Rejection of Representations (NoR) that you are able to appeal directly to the independent adjudicator. Details on how to make an appeal is sent to you with the NoR.
Further information on the progression of a penalty charge notice can be found on the Patrol website.

Patrol is the Joint Committee of England and Wales for the Civil Enforcement of Parking And Traffic Regulations Outside London.

Yes, in the majority of cases evidence can help. If you have evidence to support your case, please upload it with your challenge.

The progression of the Penalty Charge Notice is set out by legislation.

View the penalty charge notice process.

If you have been contacted by our enforcement agents (EPC), you would need to follow the instruction they have given, including payment. Do not pay Ashford Borough Council direct.

However, if you are paying before this time, the details are:

Payments from abroad
By SWIFT payment IBAN no.
GB14NWBK 600121 74313363. Swift/BIC no. NWBKGB2L
Alternatively, you can appeal, view or pay a parking fine or complete a PCN Representation Form

Appeal a penalty charge notice.

In order to ensure that any challenge or reply is interpreted correctly, it must be made in writing; this protects both parties.

We appreciate that motorists may be very frustrated when they receive a penalty charge notice, particularly if they believe that there was genuine mitigation or exemption in place. However, as the case might eventually reach the stage at which it would need to be considered by an independent adjudicator, representations must be made in writing, so that a proper audit trail can be established.

Bailiffs are now called 'enforcement agents'. Once the penalty charge notice has progressed to a state when a valid warrant has been issued we would ask, in the first instance, that you contact the enforcement agent direct, for advice and guidance.

Parking Services will not be able at this point to reconsider the original penalty charge notice, as the opportunity to make a challenge or representation will have passed.

The details of the main enforcement agencies commonly used by Ashford Borough Council are shown below (this is not an exclusive list, as sometimes enforcement agencies are given cases in small numbers). Please refer to any correspondence you will have received from the enforcement agency for full details.

If you wish to pay or contact someone, contact the enforcement agents. They are:

Marston Group

• Debt Recovery Centre: 0845 074 3749
• Make an online payment to Marston Group
• 24hr Automated Payment Line: 0844 239 3507

CDER Group

• Customer Contact Number: 0330 107 0023
• Automated Card Line: 0330 107 0023 (select option 3, then option 1 to pay using their automated payment line)
• Make an online payment to CDER Group

Excel Civil Enforcement

• Customer Contact Number: 0845 370 7775 or 01492 531345
• Automated Card Payment Line: 03300 081 014
• Email Excel Civil Enforcement
• Make an online payment to Excel Civil Enforcement

If you wish to challenge the warrant we would suggest that you to seek independent legal advice. Warrants relating to Penalty Charge Notices are processed through the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) which is part of Northampton County Court. You can contact the court directly, but they are not able to given legal advice.

All penalty charge notice information is held on our parking gateway system for up to 200 months.
Data Storage Information:

• Penalty Charge Notice scanned correspondence and supporting documentation - data stored for 84 months
• Photographs - data stored for 24 months
• Penalty Charge Notice database records - data held for 84 months

Access to the data including the photographs is only given to officers who have specific permission and work for the Parking Services department. However, once a Penalty Charge Notice is paid or cancelled it is most unlikely that an officer will have cause to refer to the Penalty Charge Notice, unless that officer is reviewing past Penalty Charge Notices when considering a challenge against a new Penalty Charge Notice.