Parked in a residents’ or shared use parking place or zone with an invalid virtual permit or displaying an invalid physical permit or voucher or pay and display ticket, or after the expiry of paid for timeThe official national descriptor for code 19, 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 — 19a rather than just 19. The letter narrows the allegation, and it tells you what the council actually says went wrong. These are the suffixes code 19 can carry:
| a | permit holder only electric vehicle charging bay |
| i | wrong type of voucher |
| r | residents’ bay |
| s | shared use bay |
| u | electronic payment |
| 4 | virtual permit |
On permit codes the letters w, x, y and z carry a separate, permit-specific meaning: wrong parking zone, incorrect registration, obscured or illegible permit, and out of date permit. Read yours before you write — answering the wrong allegation is the most common reason a good appeal fails.
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 19 that case rests on:
- What was displayed, and why it did not cover the vehicle at that time and place.
Where code 19 tickets go wrong
Check the dates and the registration on the permit against what the notice claims. Councils misread these.
If the 19 is for expired paid time rather than a defective permit, the statutory grace period applies in the same way as code 05.
The distinction between 12 and 19 matters in money: 12 is higher band, 19 is lower. If a permit was present but flawed, 19 is the right code and 12 is not.
This code is worth understanding even if you were not given it, because arguing that a 12 should have been a 19 can halve the charge.
What to gather before you write
- The permit or voucher, front and back.
- Payment records with timestamps if paid time is the issue.
Code 19 questions, answered
My permit had just expired. Why was I given code 12 rather than 19?
It should have been 19, and the difference is money. Code 12 covers having no valid permit at all and sits in the higher band. Code 19 covers a permit or ticket that was present but invalid, and sits in the lower band. If something was on display, say so and ask the council to reconsider the code as well as the penalty.
What does contravention code 19 mean?
Parked in a residents’ or shared use parking place or zone with an invalid virtual permit or displaying an invalid physical permit or voucher or pay and display ticket, or after the expiry of paid for time. In plain terms: The lower-band twin of code 12. Here something was covering the vehicle — a permit, a voucher, a ticket — but the council says it was not valid, or the paid time had run out.
How much is a code 19 penalty?
Code 19 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.
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 — the discount usually runs out after 14 days.
Other codes
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