We will issue a Charge Certificate to the keeper of the vehicle if a penalty charge notice has not been paid after 28 days from any of the following events:

• Receiving a Notice of Rejection from us and deciding not to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal 
• Receiving a Notice of Refusal from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal
• Receiving a Notice to Owner from us and deciding not to make a representation to the council
  Once a Charge Certificate has been issued there is no further statutory right of appeal, although we could accept a representation at this stage if we wished.

This is the first I have heard about the Penalty Charge Notice - what can I do about it?

You can write to us explaining why you feel you should not have to pay the Penalty Charge Notice. At this stage we do not have a legal duty to consider your representations but we will do if you have reasonable grounds for making a late representation. We will write back to you and explain what we have decided to do. If we decide not to let you make a representation then, if you did not receive a Notice to Owner document you will be able to make a 'Witness Statement' to that effect.

What happens next?

The Charge Certificate increases the penalty charge by 50% and allows 21 days for payment, beginning with the date of posting. 

If payment has not been received after 21 days, we may register the charge with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court to recover the unpaid charge. The TEC is part of the County Court based at Northampton that deals with the registration of debts from England and Wales for all unpaid Penalty Charge Notices. See Her Majesty's Courts Service website for more details.

After the TEC has sent confirmation to the council that they may proceed to recover the charge, we have 15 days to prepare and serve the following forms on you:

• Order for the Recovery of Unpaid Penalty Charge
• Witness Statement