Parked without payment of the parking chargeThe official national descriptor for code 11, as published in the Department for Transport statutory guidance list.
The letter after the number on your ticket
Codes are often written with a suffix: 11g rather than just 11. The letter narrows the allegation, and it tells you what the council actually says went wrong. These are the suffixes code 11 can carry:
| g | motorcycle bay |
| u | electronic payment |
What the council has to be able to show
An appeal is not an apology, it is a challenge to the council’s case. For code 11 that case rests on:
- That the bay required payment at that time, under a traffic order and signage.
- That no payment was recorded against your registration for the period observed.
- An observation long enough to allow a driver to pay.
Where code 11 tickets go wrong
One wrong character and a perfectly good payment sits against a car that is not yours. The app history showing the transaction, time and amount usually settles it even with the wrong plate on it.
App sessions drop out. A bank line showing the amount left your account, or a failure message in the app, both help.
A driver is entitled to a reasonable period to read the signs and pay. If the notice came within a couple of minutes of arrival, ask for the observation times.
No signal in an app-only bay, a dead machine, or no cash option can all be argued, but you need to show that you tried.
The ten-minute grace period does not create free parking where nothing was paid at all. What it can support is a short delay between arriving and paying, which is a different and more careful argument.
What to gather before you write
- The app or bank record for the day, showing the time and the amount.
- A screenshot of the registration held on your parking account.
- A photograph of the payment signage, particularly if the bay is app-only.
Code 11 questions, answered
I paid on the app, so why does the council say I did not?
Almost always because the payment is sitting against a different registration, or the session never completed. Open the app history and check the plate character by character, including the letter O against the digit zero. If the money left your account you have the strongest possible answer: produce the transaction with its timestamp and ask them to match it to the observation.
What does contravention code 11 mean?
Parked without payment of the parking charge. In plain terms: The council says nothing was paid at all, rather than that you paid and overstayed. Because these bays are increasingly app-only, the commonest real cause is a payment that failed or attached itself to the wrong car.
How much is a code 11 penalty?
Code 11 sits in the lower band, so it carries the cheaper of the two rates that council uses. Outside London that is commonly around £50; in London £110 in Band A or £90 in Band B. Half is normally taken off if you pay within 14 days, and your notice states the actual figures.
What is the difference between code 11 and code 73?
They describe the same behaviour in different places. Code 11 is used on-street; code 73 is the off-street version, issued in a council car park. The facts you would argue are the same, and only the location and the code on the notice change.
Your notice is definitive. This page explains the national code. Councils use extra codes and local suffixes, and the wording printed on your own notice always takes precedence. Check the deadline on the notice before you do anything else, because the discount usually runs out after 14 days.
Other codes
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