Finepost · Fines · PCN escalation
One parking ticket, seven prices.
A penalty charge notice does not have a price, it has a ladder: half in the discount window, half more after a charge certificate, then three bailiff stages on top. Every rung is a published figure; only the timing between the rungs is discretion. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the ladder is shorter, and it ends somewhere else entirely.
The notice states the level; councils outside London choose band 1 or band 2, London boroughs band A or band B. Scottish councils set their own figure up to a £100 cap; Northern Ireland has one national level.
Penalty levels per SI 2022/71 Sch. 3 and London Councils (2025 levels); bailiff fees per SI 2026/366, in force 1 May 2026; TEC registration fee £10, CPFO 2008. Checked 17 July 2026. TfL red route level re-verified on tfl.gov.uk, 22 July 2026; its congestion and ULEZ penalties climb the same ladder shape (structure read on tfl.gov.uk, 5 August 2026) with the levels stated there, not repeated here. Wales runs the identical table under WSI 2013/1969, columns matched line by line on legislation.gov.uk, 5 August 2026. Scotland per the Transport Scotland DPE guidance: council-set up to a £100 cap (raised from £60 in April 2023), 50 per cent off within 14 days, 50 per cent on for follow-up enforcement, pavement and dropped-kerb and double-parking charges fixed at £100; a consultation on new levels closed 30 January 2026 and reports during 2026. Northern Ireland per the DfI guidance on nidirect: £90, £45 within 14 days, certificate £135. Both checked 5 August 2026.
This walks the published fee ladder; it does not predict what a council will do. Nothing obliges an authority to take every step, and the pace between the rungs is enforcement practice, not statute. The discount window is 14 days from service, 21 where the notice came by post from a camera, reg 2 SI 2022/71. Representations to the council and an appeal to the independent adjudicator are free and sit outside this ladder; a witness statement to the court, reg 23, is a declaration about service, not an appeal.
More on the limits
The bailiff figures are the scale for warrants issued on or after 1 May 2026; older warrants finish on the previous scale, £22 less at the end. The 7.5 per cent addition above £1,900 in SI 2026/366 never touches a single PCN, it begins where several warrants are enforced together. Whether any of this is worth contesting depends on service, signage and evidence, and none of it is arithmetic.
The rungs above the certificate are England-and-Wales enforcement: Traffic Enforcement Centre, then the SI 2026/366 bailiff scale. Wales climbs the same rungs under its own 2013 regulations. Scotland never reaches them: after the second reminder the council registers the debt with the court and instructs sheriff officers, whose fees follow Scottish diligence law. Northern Ireland ends with a Notice of Enforcement and a 21-day statutory declaration under Northern Ireland court rules.
→ The clocks: PCN deadline checker · → The rung before: the notice to owner guide · → When a PCN grows: the charge certificate guide · → What does the letter say at the top? · How we check our figures