of PCN appeals against Reading Borough Council are won

Name: Penalty charge appeal outcomes for Reading Borough Council, 2013/14 to 2024/25
Creator: Traffic Penalty Tribunal

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal recorded 4,907 outcomes for appeals against Reading Borough Council from 2013/14 to 2024/25, and 2,933 of them ended with the driver paying nothing. That is 5.4 points better than the 54.4% tribunal average.

4,907appeals with an outcome

2,933won — nothing to pay

1,884refused

What the appeals were about

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

Penalty type	Outcomes	Not contested	Won
Bus lane	3,214	1,080	57.7%
Parking	1,675	681	64%
Moving traffic	18	6	7 of 18

1,767 of those 2,933 wins were uncontested. In 60.2% of the appeals Reading Borough Council lost, it put up no defence at the tribunal at all. That is the bulk of its losses, which tells you something plain: on most of the tickets that reach an adjudicator, the council would rather drop the case than argue it. 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 59.9% of appeals against Reading Borough Council, from 1,906 outcomes. In 2022/23 to 2024/25 it was 55.6%, from 754. The rate has held broadly steady across the decade.

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Year by year

Year	Allowed	Not contested	Refused	Won
2013/14	138	390	299	63%
2014/15	142	191	255	57%
2015/16	113	167	203	58%
2016/17	186	112	251	52%
2017/18	178	213	258	59%
2018/19	111	111	108	66%
2019/20	89	104	78	67%
2020/21	53	54	32	74%
2021/22	66	96	78	65%
2022/23	34	92	84	59%
2023/24	32	128	97	61%
2024/25	24	109	141	48%
All years	1,166	1,767	1,884	59.8%

Busiest year: 2013/14, with 832 appeals decided. A further 90 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 59.8%, not lower. Among the 204 authorities in England outside London and in Wales with enough appeals to compare, Reading Borough Council ranks 75th 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 Hertfordshire District Council	59.9% of 172
Sevenoaks District Council	59.8% of 346
Epping Forest District Council	59.8% of 199
Reading Borough Council (this page)	59.8% of 4,907
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council	59.6% of 433
North Devon District Council	59.5% of 222
East Lindsey District Council	59.2% of 103

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 Reading Borough Council enforces is counted above. A tribunal outcome depends on the evidence in that particular case, so nothing here predicts yours.