of PCN appeals against Northamptonshire County Council were won

Name: Penalty charge appeal outcomes for Northamptonshire County Council, 2013/14 to 2021/22
Creator: Traffic Penalty Tribunal

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal recorded 833 outcomes for appeals against Northamptonshire County Council from 2013/14 to 2021/22, and 490 of them ended with the driver paying nothing. That is 4.4 points better than the 54.4% tribunal average.

833appeals with an outcome

490won — nothing to pay

340refused

What the appeals were about

Northamptonshire County Council enforces more than one kind of penalty, and drivers do not fare the same on each.

Penalty type	Outcomes	Not contested	Won
Parking	827	129	58.9%
Bus lane	6	0	3 of 6

This record stops at 2021/22. The tribunal has logged no parking appeals against Northamptonshire County Council since then. That usually means the authority was reorganised into a larger council, though it can also mean no appeal reached the tribunal. Check the name printed on your notice, and if it is a different council, look that one up instead.

129 of those 490 wins were uncontested. In 26.3% of the appeals Northamptonshire County Council lost, it put up no defence at the tribunal at all. That is a small share, so expect Northamptonshire County Council to defend most cases and put your argument in front of an adjudicator rather than fold early. Those tickets were not close calls. The authority had already given up on them, and the appeal was the only thing standing between the driver and a cancelled charge.

Is it getting easier or harder?

In 2013/14 to 2015/16, drivers won 62.3% of appeals against Northamptonshire County Council, from 345 outcomes. In 2019/20 to 2021/22 it was 49.1%, from 175. Drivers are doing worse now than they were, by 13.2 points, so do not lean on the older figures.

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Year by year

Year	Allowed	Not contested	Refused	Won
2013/14	39	26	32	67%
2014/15	51	44	53	64%
2015/16	36	19	45	55%
2016/17	41	21	44	58%
2017/18	60	5	37	64%
2018/19	56	6	42	60%
2019/20	49	1	62	45%
2020/21	29	5	23	58%
2021/22	0	2	2	50%
All years	361	129	340	58.8%

Busiest year: 2014/15, with 148 appeals decided. A further 3 appeals were closed by consent order across the period, which the tribunal counts separately because it can mean the driver agreeing to pay the original charge.

What this does and does not tell you

These are appeals that reached an independent adjudicator, which is the last stage. They leave out every ticket cancelled earlier, when you first challenge it or make formal representations, and that is where most successful challenges actually end. So your real chance of getting a ticket cancelled somewhere in the process is higher than 58.8%, not lower. Among the 203 authorities in England outside London and in Wales with enough appeals to compare, Northamptonshire County Council ranks 79th for how often drivers win.

Two details worth knowing before you read too much into the number. The refused column includes appeals made after the deadline and appeals the driver withdrew, so it is not purely a record of arguments that lost on the evidence. And a small number of appeals each year finish with no outcome recorded against any of these categories, so the totals here are of appeals that reached a recorded outcome rather than of every appeal lodged.

Before you write

Find your contravention code. Every PCN carries a two digit code that says exactly what they claim you did, and what they have to prove. Look yours up.
Check the deadline. Discounts and rights both expire. Work out your dates.
Know how appeals work outside London. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal route, step by step.
Do not just ignore it. What actually happens if you do.

How similar authorities compare

Authority	Appeals won
North Devon District Council	59.5% of 222
East Lindsey District Council	59.2% of 103
Sheffield City Council	58.9% of 6,447
Northamptonshire County Council (this page)	58.8% of 833
North East Lincolnshire Council	58.7% of 334
Bath & North East Somerset Council	58.6% of 1,619
Gravesham Borough Council	58.3% of 211

Every authority we hold figures for, with sources →

Source: Traffic Penalty Tribunal, appeals data by authority, covering 2013/14 to 2024/25. The tribunal decides appeals for England outside London and for Wales, across parking, bus lane, moving traffic, clean air zone, river crossing and littering penalties. Every type Northamptonshire County Council enforces is counted above. A tribunal outcome depends on the evidence in that particular case, so nothing here predicts yours.