A council parking PCN in England must normally be fixed to your windscreen or handed to you by a civil enforcement officer. Service by post based on CCTV alone is only lawful for a prescribed list of restrictions: bus lanes, bus stop and bus stand clearways, school keep-clear zig-zags, red routes and mandatory cycle lanes. That is the effect of section 78A of the Traffic Management Act 2004, inserted by section 53 of the Deregulation Act 2015.
If a postal parking PCN landed on your doormat, the first question is not "was I parked there". It is "was the council allowed to enforce this restriction by camera at all".
How the 2015 restriction works
Before 2015, some councils ran camera cars and static CCTV to issue parking PCNs by post at scale. Parliament stopped it. The Deregulation Act 2015 amended the Traffic Management Act 2004 so that regulations must require a parking PCN to be served by a notice fixed to the vehicle, except in prescribed circumstances.
The prescribed circumstances now sit in the 2022 enforcement regulations and are reflected in the government's statutory guidance to councils:
| Camera enforcement permitted | Note |
|---|---|
| Bus lanes | Camera enforcement is the standard method |
| Bus stop and bus stand clearways | One of the few permitted parking uses |
| School 'keep clear' zig-zag markings | Permitted where the restriction is signed |
| Red routes | TfL and some borough red route restrictions |
| Parking or loading in mandatory cycle lanes | Added to the permitted list |
| Moving traffic contraventions | Box junctions, banned turns, no entry: camera enforcement is how the entire regime works |
The statutory guidance goes further than the bare list. It says the primary objective of any camera enforcement system is the safe and efficient operation of the road network, and it recommends using approved devices only where enforcement is difficult or sensitive and enforcement by an officer is not practical. A council using cameras as a convenience where officers could patrol is acting against the guidance it is required to have regard to.
Camera evidence has its own rules
Where camera enforcement is permitted, the equipment and the evidence still have to meet the legal standard:
- Approved device certification. The camera system must be certified under SI 2022/71. Uncertified equipment does not produce lawful enforcement evidence.
- The footage must prove the elements. Stills showing a vehicle near a restriction rarely establish contraventions that depend on timing, movement or exemptions. Loading, boarding and alighting, forced stops and brief incursions all live in the video, not the photographs.
- Observation periods. Some restrictions require the vehicle to be observed for a period before a contravention is made out. A clip shorter than the required observation is a defect.
- The PCN itself must be correct. Served in time, correct location and vehicle details, mandatory wording present. Postal camera PCNs are produced in bulk, and bulk production produces errors.
Received a postal PCN based on camera evidence?
Every council contravention code has a dedicated challenge letter with the camera evidence grounds built in. £15 each.
What to do with a postal camera PCN
Work through four checks before paying anything:
1. Identify the contravention code on the notice. Is it a parking code, or a bus lane or moving traffic code? The camera rules differ, as explained in the moving traffic PCN guide.
2. If it is a parking code, ask whether the restriction is on the permitted camera list. If it is not, the method of service itself is challengeable.
3. Request the footage and the device certification in your representations. The authority relies on both. Make it produce both.
4. Check the notice against the statutory requirements: service date, penalty amounts, mandatory statements. Defects in the notice are a free-standing ground.
Every council contravention code has its own challenge letter with the camera evidence and procedural grounds already built in, including the approved device and observation period arguments, for £15.
The letter for this
Council PCN Formal Representations
Written for this specific ground, with the law cited and the evidence demands built in. Complete the placeholders and send it.
Included free with the letter
- How to Submit Your Tribunal Appeal
- How Council Parking Appeals Work
Frequently asked questions
Can a council send me a parking ticket through the post from CCTV?
Only in limited circumstances. Since 2015, the law has required parking PCNs in England to be fixed to the vehicle or handed to the driver by a civil enforcement officer, except in prescribed cases. The main exceptions are bus lanes, bus stop and bus stand clearways, school keep-clear zig-zags, red routes and mandatory cycle lanes, plus situations where the officer was prevented from serving the notice (for example, the driver drove away). A postal CCTV parking PCN outside those situations is challengeable.
Why did the law restrict CCTV parking enforcement?
Parliament legislated in the Deregulation Act 2015 after widespread concern about industrial-scale camera enforcement of minor parking contraventions. Section 53 of that Act inserted section 78A into the Traffic Management Act 2004, requiring notification by a notice fixed to the vehicle except in prescribed circumstances. The government's statutory guidance also recommends camera enforcement only where enforcement by an officer is difficult or sensitive.
Does the CCTV restriction apply to bus lane and box junction fines?
No. The restriction applies to parking contraventions. Bus lane and moving traffic contraventions (box junctions, banned turns, no entry) are enforced by camera as the standard method, with the PCN served by post. The camera still has to be an approved device and the footage still has to prove the contravention.
What is an "approved device"?
A camera system certified under the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/71). If the equipment used does not meet the certification requirements, the evidence does not support a PCN. You are entitled to ask the authority to confirm the device type and its certification.
Can I demand to see the CCTV footage of my alleged contravention?
Yes. Ask for it in your representations. The authority relies on that evidence, and adjudicators expect it to be disclosed. Stills alone often fail to establish contraventions that depend on movement and timing, such as whether your exit from a box junction was clear when you entered, or whether a stop at a bus stop fell within an exemption. The footage is also your personal data, so a Subject Access Request under UK GDPR is a second route to it.
The council says a CCTV operator watched me park. Is that enough?
The observation must establish the elements of the specific contravention, including any observation period the restriction requires (for example, loading exemptions need evidence that no loading was taking place). A short clip that does not cover the required observation period is a recognised weakness in camera-based cases.
Make the council justify the camera.
Contravention-specific challenge letters with the CCTV, approved device and observation period grounds built in. Find yours by the code on your PCN.