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of PCN appeals against Sunderland City Council are won
The Traffic Penalty Tribunal recorded 329 outcomes for appeals against Sunderland City Council from 2013/14 to 2024/25, and 136 of them ended with the driver paying nothing. That is 13.1 points below the 54.4% tribunal average.
Over the same period Sunderland City Council told the tribunal it issued 201,783 penalty charge notices. Only 329 of them ever reached an adjudicator, roughly one in 613. Almost everyone pays, which is worth knowing before you assume a ticket must be fair because so few people fight it.
What the tickets are worth. In its return to the government for 2024-25, Sunderland City Council reported £979,000 of income from parking fines. That is 24% of everything it earned from parking, so most of its parking money comes from people paying to park rather than from penalties. Any surplus is not profit in the ordinary sense: on-street surpluses have to be spent on transport under section 55 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.
What the appeals were about
Sunderland 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 | 318 | 38 | 41.5% |
| Bus lane | 11 | 4 | 4 of 11 |
42 of those 136 wins were uncontested. In 30.9% of the appeals Sunderland City Council lost, it put up no defence at the tribunal at all. That is a small share, so expect Sunderland 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 47.5% of appeals against Sunderland City Council, from 120 outcomes. In 2022/23 to 2024/25 it was 39.5%, from 38. Drivers are doing worse now than they were, by 8 points, so do not lean on the older figures.
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| Year | Allowed | Not contested | Refused | Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013/14 | 18 | 4 | 22 | 50% |
| 2014/15 | 8 | 6 | 18 | 44% |
| 2015/16 | 15 | 6 | 23 | 48% |
| 2016/17 | 14 | 5 | 31 | 38% |
| 2017/18 | 12 | 3 | 31 | 33% |
| 2018/19 | 9 | 5 | 21 | 39% |
| 2019/20 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 35% |
| 2020/21 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 44% |
| 2021/22 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 50% |
| 2022/23 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 42% |
| 2023/24 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 18% |
| 2024/25 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 53% |
| All years | 94 | 42 | 190 | 41.3% |
Busiest year: 2016/17, with 50 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 41.3%, not lower. Among the 203 authorities in England outside London and in Wales with enough appeals to compare, Sunderland City Council ranks 188th 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 |
|---|---|
| South Gloucestershire Council | 42.4% of 767 |
| Harrogate Borough Council | 42.1% of 195 |
| Hampshire County Council | 42% of 357 |
| Sunderland City Council (this page) | 41.3% of 329 |
| Wakefield Council | 41.3% of 390 |
| Watford Borough Council | 40.9% of 445 |
| Adur District Council | 40.1% of 282 |
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 Sunderland City Council enforces is counted above. A tribunal outcome depends on the evidence in that particular case, so nothing here predicts yours.