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 

What can I do now?

Once you have received an Order for Recovery you can either:

• pay the outstanding amount which will consist of the penalty charge and a court registration fee of £5 to the council within 21 days, or
• complete the Witness Statement and return it to the TEC.

What is the 'Witness Statement' form?

The Witness Statement is a legal declaration to say that you did not receive either a Notice to Owner, or a Notice of Rejection from the council, or a Notice of Refusal from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, or that you paid the penalty charge within 28 days of receiving it. 

You must then send the completed Witness Statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre (not to the council).

If you complete a Witness Statement it does not mean that the Penalty Charge Notice is cancelled. We may go back to the stage of the process where you said that you did not receive notification. If you state that you did not receive a Notice to Owner, we may take your case back to the Notice to Owner stage and send you a Notice to Owner. If you state that you made representations to the council or an appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal then we may refer your case to the traffic Penalty Tribunal. 

It is a criminal offence to make a false Witness Statement and proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against you if you make a false statement without an honest belief in its truth.

On what grounds could I make a Witness Statement?

There are four grounds on which a Witness Statement may be made:

1. I did not receive the 'Notice to Owner' - If you did not receive a 'Notice to Owner', you will not have had an opportunity to make formal representations against the issue of the Penalty Charge Notice. If a valid Witness Statement is made on this ground, we will reissue a 'Notice to Owner'.
2. I made representations about the penalty charge but did not receive a rejection notice - If you made representations after receiving the 'Notice to Owner' that were rejected by the council, but you did not receive our response in the form of a Notice of Rejection of Representations, you could not have exercised your right to appeal. If a valid Witness Statement is made on this ground, we will treat the case as a formal appeal and forward all documentation to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. Liability for the penalty charge will then be decided by an adjudicator.
3. I appealed to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal but have had no response to my appeal - If you made a formal appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal but did not receive notification of the outcome, you might have missed the opportunity to pay the full penalty charge. If a valid Witness Statement is made on this ground, the case will be regarded as a formal appeal. If we haven't already done so, we will forward all documentation to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. Liability for the penalty charge will then be decided by an adjudicator.
4. I paid the penalty charge notice in full within 28 days - You must provide details of the date payment was made, the method of payment i.e. cash, cheque, debit/credit card and who the payment was made to, and you may be asked to provide proof of payment on request. If a valid Witness Statement is made on this ground and the council disputes the statement the case will be referred to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for a decision to be made by an adjudicator.

What happens when the TEC receive my completed Witness Statement?

When the TEC receives your Witness Statement it will place the penalty charge on hold. A notice of this is produced and sent to you and the council.

We can then decide to close the case or, depending on your grounds for making a Witness Statement, revert back to the stage in the procedure where you stated you did not receive the necessary document, or refer the case to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for an adjudicator to make a decision on the case.

What happens if I do not pay the outstanding amount or make a Witness Statement?

If the outstanding amount has not been paid and a Witness Statement has not been filed after 21 days from service of the Order for Recovery, we can request authority from the TEC to use a certificated bailiff to recover the outstanding penalty charge. Service is deemed to have been made three days after posting of the Order for Recovery.

This is done with a legal document called a Warrant of Execution.

What can the bailiff do to recover the outstanding amount?

The bailiff will send out various requests for payment to the person whose name is on the warrant. If no payment is made, the bailiff can remove the vehicle or other goods to recover the unpaid charge. The outstanding amount will also now include the bailiff's costs.

I was not aware of this outstanding penalty charge and now the bailiff has contacted me. What can I do about it?

After the issue of a warrant you may still make a Witness Statement but to do so you will need to request and complete an Out of Time Witness Statement Form from the TEC, explaining your reasons for making a late Witness Statement. 

The TEC will then ask us if we are willing to accept a late Witness Statement. We have 14 days to reply. If the late Witness Statement is accepted then the Order for Recovery and Warrant of Execution will be revoked and we will revert back to the stage of the procedure where you have stated that you did not receive notification.

If we decide to reject the late Witness Statement then the case will go before a Court Officer at Northampton County Court who will decide whether our reasons for rejecting the late Witness Statement are sufficient.

If the court decides in our favour then the Warrant can be pursued. If the court decides to allow the late Witness Statement then it is treated in the same way as a Witness Statement that is made within time.

I do not agree with the court's decision - can I appeal against it?

You may apply to review the Court Officer's decision. Once your application is processed by the TEC, the case is transferred to your local county court for a hearing before a District Judge. The District Judge will only consider whether there is good reason to file the Witness Statement out of time and will not consider whether the penalty charge notice should have been issued.