of PCN appeals against Wiltshire Council are won

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

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal recorded 424 outcomes for appeals against Wiltshire Council from 2013/14 to 2024/25, and 180 of them ended with the driver paying nothing. That is 11.9 points below the 54.4% tribunal average.

424appeals with an outcome

180won — nothing to pay

244refused

What the appeals were about

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

Penalty type	Outcomes	Not contested	Won
Parking	411	46	41.1%
Bus lane	13	0	11 of 13

46 of those 180 wins were uncontested. In 25.6% of the appeals Wiltshire Council lost, it put up no defence at the tribunal at all. That is a small share, so expect Wiltshire 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 41.8% of appeals against Wiltshire Council, from 189 outcomes. In 2022/23 to 2024/25 it was 43.6%, from 39. The rate has held broadly steady across the decade.

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Year by year

Year	Allowed	Not contested	Refused	Won
2013/14	23	7	37	45%
2014/15	24	5	44	40%
2015/16	10	10	29	41%
2016/17	8	4	10	55%
2017/18	9	6	26	37%
2018/19	14	1	24	38%
2019/20	13	3	16	50%
2020/21	2	2	14	22%
2021/22	19	3	22	50%
2022/23	3	0	7	30%
2023/24	3	4	6	54%
2024/25	6	1	9	44%
All years	134	46	244	42.5%

Busiest year: 2014/15, with 73 appeals decided.

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 42.5%, not lower. Among the 204 authorities in England outside London and in Wales with enough appeals to compare, Wiltshire Council ranks 185th 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
Ashford Borough Council	42.7% of 234
Oxfordshire County Council	42.7% of 419
Stoke-on-Trent City Council	42.7% of 398
Wiltshire Council (this page)	42.5% of 424
South Gloucestershire Council	42.4% of 767
Harrogate Borough Council	42.1% of 195
Hampshire County Council	42% of 357

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