of PCN appeals against Southampton City Council are won

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

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal recorded 972 outcomes for appeals against Southampton City Council from 2013/14 to 2024/25, and 508 of them ended with the driver paying nothing. That is close to the 54.4% tribunal average.

972appeals with an outcome

508won — nothing to pay

457refused

What the appeals were about

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

Penalty type	Outcomes	Not contested	Won
Parking	716	111	47.5%
Bus lane	241	32	65.6%
Moving traffic	15	5	10 of 15

148 of those 508 wins were uncontested. In 29.1% of the appeals Southampton City Council lost, it put up no defence at the tribunal at all. That is a small share, so expect Southampton City 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 40.3% of appeals against Southampton City Council, from 253 outcomes. In 2022/23 to 2024/25 it was 44.8%, from 326. The rate has held broadly steady across the decade.

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Year by year

Year	Allowed	Not contested	Refused	Won
2013/14	19	13	35	48%
2014/15	25	14	55	41%
2015/16	24	7	61	34%
2016/17	23	10	30	52%
2017/18	25	9	28	54%
2018/19	38	9	18	72%
2019/20	61	10	37	66%
2020/21	33	7	8	82%
2021/22	21	14	10	78%
2022/23	29	15	25	62%
2023/24	41	13	94	36%
2024/25	21	27	56	46%
All years	360	148	457	52.3%

Busiest year: 2023/24, with 151 appeals decided. A further 7 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 52.3%, not lower. Among the 204 authorities in England outside London and in Wales with enough appeals to compare, Southampton City Council ranks 118th 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
Wokingham Borough Council	53% of 508
Surrey County Council	52.8% of 487
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council	52.3% of 682
Southampton City Council (this page)	52.3% of 972
Eastleigh Borough Council	52.1% of 121
Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council	51.9% of 771
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council	51.8% of 760

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