TE7 and TE9 forms explained: challenging a parking penalty at the Traffic Enforcement Centre

What the forms are for

When a penalty charge notice goes unpaid, the issuing authority can register the debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre — a specialist part of the county court in Northampton — and obtain an order for recovery. The order for recovery is the formal step that opens the way to a warrant of control and, from there, to an enforcement agent visiting.

The two forms exist to challenge that order. TE9 is the witness statement setting out the grounds for the challenge. TE7 is a separate declaration that asks the Traffic Enforcement Centre to accept a witness statement filed after the 21-day deadline. Where the deadline has passed, both forms are filed together. Where it has not, only the TE9 is needed.

Time to challenge an order for recovery

21 daysfrom the date the order was served

Form for the witness statement

TE9for parking PCNs and most moving traffic penalties

Out-of-time declaration

TE7filed with the TE9 when the 21-day window has passed

Effect of filing on bailiff action

StopsGOV.UK: bailiffs are told to stop any action while the challenge is considered

Which form applies to which penalty

Most parking penalty charge notices and the majority of moving traffic penalties use TE9 (with TE7 if out of time). A different pair of forms — PE3 for the witness statement and PE2 for the out-of-time declaration — applies to some other penalty types, including low emission zone penalties and moving traffic penalties in London boroughs. The order for recovery itself will show which set of forms is required.

The grounds for a TE9 witness statement

A TE9 witness statement can only be made on specific grounds. GOV.UK lists them as:

• no notice to owner was received,
• a formal challenge was made in time but no notice of rejection was received back,
• an appeal was made to the tribunal in time but there was no response, or
• the penalty has already been paid, with proof.

The witness statement must set out which ground applies and include any supporting evidence. A penalty that was paid, for example, would need proof of payment. A penalty the person never knew about would need an explanation of why no notice reached them — most commonly because correspondence went to an old address.

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The out-of-time route: filing TE7 with the TE9

Many people first learn of a penalty charge notice when a bailiff’s letter arrives, often because earlier notices went to a previous address. The law allows a late challenge where one of the grounds above applies. The TE7 is a declaration asking the Traffic Enforcement Centre to accept the TE9 out of time. The same three situations that permit a late challenge are:

• the person was contacted about a PCN they did not know about,
• the person was contacted about a PCN that had been paid or cancelled, or
• the person never received a response to a formal challenge or appeal.

Both forms — the TE7 and the TE9 — are sent together to the Traffic Enforcement Centre, by email or post. The parking fine bailiffs page explains the earlier steps in the penalty process from PCN to warrant.

What happens to bailiff action while the challenge is considered

GOV.UK states that once the forms are filed, bailiffs will be told to stop any action while the out-of-time challenge is considered. If the challenge is accepted, the Civil Procedure Rules add that any warrant of control issued under the revoked order will cease to have effect, and bailiffs will have to return any property they seized. The authority then cancels the PCN, issues a new notice to owner, or refers the case to a tribunal.

If the challenge is refused

If the authority refuses the late challenge, the Traffic Enforcement Centre reviews the decision. If that review also fails, a judge can be asked to consider it by filing form N244 within 14 days. The court fee is £321 for an application made with a hearing, or £126 without one, with help available for people on a low income. These are the fees in force from 13 July 2026.

Where a challenge does not succeed, enforcement resumes. The debt itself is not cancelled. It goes back to the creditor, who has other ways to collect it. The how to stop bailiffs page sets out the other routes that can pause or end enforcement.

The fees that can build up while forms are being gathered

On the standard 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. 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.