Parking fine bailiffs for a car you sold or an address you left

How a penalty reaches enforcement without the keeper knowing

Councils and Transport for London issue penalty charge notices to the registered keeper of a vehicle, using the address held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. If a keeper has moved and not updated their DVLA record, or if a vehicle has been sold but the transfer has not yet been processed, every notice goes to the wrong place. The keeper named on the warrant is legally responsible until the registration is corrected, not from the moment the car changed hands.

The sequence from PCN to bailiff has four stages. A PCN goes out, then a charge certificate adding 50% if there is no response, then an order for recovery registered at the Traffic Enforcement Centre in Northampton, and finally a warrant of control passed to an enforcement firm. At each stage the notice goes to the address the authority holds. If that address is wrong, every letter misses. The full sequence is set out on the parking fine bailiffs page.

The two situations and how they differ

The out-of-time challenge: TE7 and TE9

Once a warrant has been issued, the normal 21-day window to challenge the order for recovery has passed. The law allows a late challenge where someone was contacted about a PCN they did not know about. The forms are TE7 (the out-of-time application) and TE9 (the witness statement). Both go to the Traffic Enforcement Centre together, by email or post. For some penalty types, including certain London moving traffic penalties and low emission zone penalties, the equivalent forms are PE2 and PE3.

GOV.UK states that bailiffs will be told to stop any action while an out-of-time challenge is considered. If the challenge is accepted, bailiffs must return any property they have seized. A detailed walkthrough of the forms is on the TE7 and TE9 forms explained page.

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What evidence supports a challenge

The TE9 is a witness statement: a signed account of why the notices were not received. The Traffic Enforcement Centre looks at whether the explanation is credible. Evidence that is directly relevant includes:

• Proof of a house move: a tenancy agreement, completion statement, council tax bill or utility bill in the new address and dated before the contravention or shortly after it.
• Proof of a DVLA address update: a confirmation letter from DVLA, or a V5C showing the current address and when it was issued.
• Proof of a vehicle sale: the V5C section 6 or section 8 tear-off sent to DVLA, a sale receipt, dealer invoice or transfer certificate showing the date the car left the keeper’s hands.
• Proof that a formal challenge was sent in time but no rejection was received: a copy of the correspondence and any proof of postage.
• Proof that the penalty was already paid, with payment reference.

Where a person has moved and not updated their DVLA record, the authority is less likely to withdraw the penalty on that ground alone, because the keeper has a legal duty to keep the register current. The witness statement should explain the full circumstances honestly.

What happens if the challenge fails

If the authority refuses the late challenge, the Traffic Enforcement Centre reviews it. If that also fails, a judge can be asked to look at the decision within 14 days of the Traffic Enforcement Centre’s refusal, using form N244. From 13 July 2026 the court fee is £321 with a hearing or £126 without one, with help available for people on a low income.

If the challenge route is exhausted and the penalty stands, the enforcement firm continues to act. The debt itself is not cancelled. It goes back to the creditor, who has other ways to collect it. On the standard fee scale the fixed fees are £79 at the notice, £326 once an agent has visited and £442 if goods are removed for sale, before any percentage fee on a larger debt.

What enforcement agents can and cannot do for a parking penalty

A traffic penalty warrant does not give power to force entry to a home. The risk for a parking penalty is to vehicles kept outside. Goods are taken away in a small share of cases: 2,624 of almost 3.7 million in January to June 2025, most often a clamped vehicle. What happens far more often, with a car or without one, is cost. Of the cases that ended in payment in that period, 64% were paid at the enforcement stage or later, after an agent’s first visit had added the larger fee. The average fee collected on a case paid in full was £201, on the lower fees then in force.

An agent cannot take a vehicle that belongs to someone other than the person named on the warrant, or one still owned by a finance company. If a vehicle was sold and the new keeper is now the registered owner at DVLA, that is evidence the vehicle does not belong to the debtor. The bailiffs chasing the wrong person or the wrong address page explains how to show that goods do not belong to the debtor.