Parked in a disc parking place without clearly displaying a valid discThe official national descriptor for code 35, as published in the Department for Transport statutory guidance list.
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 35 that case rests on:
- A traffic order making that bay a disc parking place.
- Signage explaining the requirement and the maximum stay.
- A photograph of the windscreen showing no disc, or a disc set wrongly.
Where code 35 tickets go wrong
Photograph it where it fell. Councils accept this at the first stage more often than people expect, particularly with a picture.
If the signage does not say where discs come from and no nearby shop had one, a visitor could not comply. Say where you looked.
Ask for the officer’s photograph. Discs are small and the hands are easy to misread.
Where the stay was short enough that no disc requirement bit, or the bay was outside controlled hours, the allegation fails on its own terms.
What to gather before you write
- The disc itself, photographed as it was set.
- A photograph of the sign explaining the scheme, and of the whole bay.
- Anything showing your arrival time.
Code 35 questions, answered
I had never heard of a parking disc. Where was I meant to get one?
Discs are normally free from council offices, libraries and many local shops, and the signage is supposed to tell you. If it does not, raise that: a scheme depending on a physical object the driver cannot obtain, and is not told where to obtain, is hard to enforce against a visitor. Say plainly that you were from out of the area and describe what the sign did and did not say.
What does contravention code 35 mean?
Parked in a disc parking place without clearly displaying a valid disc. In plain terms: Disc zones are free but timed: you set a cardboard or plastic clock to your arrival time and show it in the windscreen. They survive in a good number of market towns, and visitors routinely have no idea the scheme exists.
How much is a code 35 penalty?
Code 35 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, because the discount usually runs out after 14 days.
Other codes
01 02 05 06 12 14 16 19 21 23 24 25 26 27 30 40 46 47 62 99 04 07 08 09 10 11 20 22 35 29 31 32 33 34 36 37 38 50 51 52 53 54 81 89 92 93 95 28 41 42 43 45 48 49 55 56 57 63 18 61 58 59 67 68 All codes →