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Parking fines and enforcement


If you have recently received a Penalty Charge notice and wish to make a challenge or appeal, and you have online access please use the appeal form.Make an appeal onlineYour case will be placed on hold until you receive a response.

We enforce parking restrictions on public roads and in Council car parks.

Most people park safely and legally, but if they don't, penalty charge notices can be issued. Our civil parking enforcement procedures explains:

  • when our staff can issue penalty charge notices
  • how appeals are handled

View our civil parking enforcement procedures

Illegal parking

If you think there is a vehicle illegally parked where there is a parking restriction, for example

  • single/double yellow lines
  • limited waiting bays
  • resident parking zones

you can report it to us.

Report an illegally parked vehicle

If there are no parking restrictions where the vehicle is parked we do not have the authority to enforce. For example we cannot deal with vehicles parked on pavements or causing an obstruction. 

If a street does not currently have a completed and signed off Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) in place, the Civil Enforcement Officers are unable to enforce.

TRO’s are legal documents that restrict or prohibit the use of the highway network, in line with The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984.

If you would like additional information on TRO’s, you can email the Highways team at highwaysandenvironmenthub@cormacltd.co.uk The team will be pleased to assist in answering any queries.

Devon and Cornwall Police’s flowchart explains who can deal with different illegal parking issues.

View the Devon and Cornwall Police’s flowchart

You can report police issues using their contact form. 

Devon and Cornwall Police contact formParking on the street

Our civil enforcement officers can issue a penalty charge notice if you ignore parking and waiting restrictions (if there is a Traffic Regulation Order for that area). Such as:

  • Double yellow lines
  • Single yellow lines
  • Loading bays
  • Bus stops
  • Restricted and residential zones

If there are no parking restrictions, we can’t issue a penalty charge notice. However, if your vehicle is:

  • causing a safety issue or
  • blocking the road or pavement

the police can remove it and give you penalty points.

Parking in a Council car park

Our civil enforcement officers can issue a penalty charge notice in our car parks if you:

  • Park without buying and properly displaying either a valid pay and display ticket, season ticket or parking permit
  • Park for longer than you have paid for
  • Don’t park wholly in a marked space
  • Park in a marked reserved space that isn’t yours
  • Park in a marked disabled space without displaying your blue badge and clock
  • Park displaying a disabled blue badge and clock but haven't paid. Or you are not registered with us for either the Disabled Parking or Adapted Vehicle exemption schemes 
  • Ignore other restrictions displayed in the car park.  Many of the restrictions you need to be aware of are shown on the tariff boards at the entrance to the car park

Parking on the pavement

Our civil enforcement officers can issue a parking penalty charge notice if:

  • you park on the pavement and
  • the road next to it has restrictions such as yellow lines

If there aren't restrictions on the road next to the pavement, we can only issue a penalty charge notice if there's a dropped kerb which has a bumpy surface.  

However, if your vehicle is causing a safety issue or blocking the road or pavement, the police can remove it and give you penalty points.

Annual Parking Reports

Our annual parking reports include information about how many penalty charge notices we issued, payments and appeals. 

Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London (PATROL)

We are a member of PATROL who are an organisation which helps the public understand penalty charge notices and what to do if you receive one. 

You can find out more about penalty charge notices on the PATROL website.

PATROL website

Need help?

Most issues can be resolved online, it's the quickest and most convenient way to get help.

Use our contact us form