Finepost · Fines · PCN deadlines
The date in, the clocks out.
Every parking ticket is a set of clocks: a discount that closes, a payment window, and stages that only become possible once earlier ones expire. Enter the date on the notice and read where the case stands today, for a council or TfL penalty under the 2022 regulations, or a private parking charge under POFA 2012, where a missed day 14 can end keeper liability before it starts. Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own chains; pick the region and the clocks follow.
a deadline that closes possible from this date
an “until” date runs to midnight at the end of that day
England deadlines per SI 2022/71, SI 2022/576 and Schedule 4 to the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, primary wording read on legislation.gov.uk 18 July 2026. Wales per SI 2013/362 and WSI 2013/1969, appeals under SI 2013/359; Scotland per the scheme published on mygov.scot, appeals to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, General Regulatory Chamber; Northern Ireland per the DfI guidance on nidirect; the POFA keeper route applies in England and Wales only. Checked 5 August 2026; the postal council chain, representations against the PCN itself with no notice-to-owner stage; the 21-day discount applies only to approved-device postal notices, reg 2 SI 2022/71 and WSI 2013/1969, re-read 7 August 2026. Postal service in England, London and Wales is deemed on the second working day after posting; a notice dated on a weekend or bank holiday counts as posted on the next working day; bank holidays from the gov.uk bank-holidays feed, pulled 7 August 2026, table embedded to 26 December 2028; a Scottish posted notice is taken as received 48 hours after sending, s.26 ILRA 2010; Northern Ireland has no fixed count (s.24, 1954 Act), so its clocks stay on the notice date. The postal clocks above follow those rules. London bus lane runs under LLAA 1996 s.4 and Schedule 1, with an optional enforcement-notice stage; moving traffic under LLATfL 2003 s.4 and Schedule 1; their discount runs from the date on the notice, representations from deemed service in both Acts; the bus-lane payment window and enforcement-notice point stay on the notice date (para 1(1)(b)), the moving-traffic next stage counts from service, both Acts re-read 12 August 2026. The amounts at each stage live in the PCN ladder.
This runs the statutory clocks; it does not judge a ticket. The dates here are the earliest and latest the law allows, not a prediction of when letters arrive. A postal council PCN must itself be served within 28 days of the contravention, with narrow extensions such as a DVLA request in the first 14, reg 10 SI 2022/71. Representations run against a notice to owner, or for a postal PCN against the notice itself; they are free, carry a 28-day window, and the authority has 56 days to answer; a rejection opens a fresh 28 days to pay or appeal. Posted notices count as delivered on the second working day after posting, and a notice dated on a weekend or bank holiday counts as posted on the next working day; the England, Wales, London and Scotland postal options above already start their clocks from the computed date. Hire vehicles run their own 21-day chains under POFA.
More on the limits
The region decides the chain. London parking follows the same TMA 2004 pattern, but bus lane and moving traffic tickets there run under separate London Acts with their own notice chains, and appeals go to London Tribunals rather than the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. In Scotland only participating councils issue PCNs, moving-traffic offences stay with the police, and appeals go to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland. In Northern Ireland the DfI issues centrally and enforcement runs under Northern Ireland court rules.
Private parking amounts are contractual, set by the operator and the accredited trade body, not by statute. Whether a notice was valid, whether service actually happened, and whether a tribunal or court agrees is argument and evidence, and none of it is arithmetic.
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