Road Traffic Act 1991 and Traffic Management Act 2004
Fees and Charges
Effective 1st October 2003
The Road Traffic Act 1991 (RTA) introduced the civil enforcement system and established the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) to replace the police Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN). The “Charge” is the penalty that is applied if a contravention takes place (ie if you park “illegally” of if you enter a bus lane during restricted times or contravene specific traffic regulations such as “enter a box junction”). The RTA has now been superceded by the Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA).
There is a range of “Charge” bands (prices) that are available for local authorities to use – from £40 to £120.
If the Penalty Charge is paid within 14 days of the date of issue then 50% discount applies.
If the Penalty Charge is not paid within 28 days of issue of a Notice to Owner (approximately 31 days after issue of the PCN) then the debt increases by 50% to become £60 to £180 respectively.
| Penalty Charge [ 100% ] £ |
Discounted amount [ 50% ] (if paid within 14 days of issue of PCN) £ |
With surcharge [ 150% ] (if not paid within 28 days after issue of Notice to Owner) £ |
Debt registration fee (£5 to Court) £ |
Total amount due to creditor (local authority) ie “the Debt” £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 20 | 60 | 5 | 65 |
| 50 | 25 | 75 | 5 | 80 |
| 60 | 30 | 90 | 5 | 95 |
| 70 | 35 | 105 | 5 | 110 |
| 80 | 40 | 120 | 5 | 125 |
| 100 | 50 | 150 | 5 | 155 |
| 120 | 60 | 180 | 5 | 185 |
As can be seen from the above, the total amount due to the creditor (local authority) is the amount that the bailiff company is instructed to try to recover from the debtor. If the debt is not paid immediately after the Notice of Debt Registration is sent to the debtor, the Court will issue a warrant for execution by the bailiff company.
Once the case is passed to the Enforcement Agent (bailiff), the local authority will not normally intervene in the process.
How much will I have to pay?
The cost of recovering the debt is met by the debtor (the local authority pay nothing for the service). This cost is divided into fees and charges.
Fees are set down by law in The Enforcement of Road Traffic Debts (Certificated Bailiff) Regulations 1993 as amended by Statutory Instrument 2003 No. 1857 (L.31).
Charges are set by agreement with the local authority in order to cover the costs incurred by the bailiff company. These charges must be “reasonable” and can be “taxed” by the court if challenged.
It should be noted that the fees and charges have to cover the cost of attempted recovery (from those who don’t pay) as well as successful recovery from those who do pay. As a result the fees and charges have to take account of costs incurred by the Enforcement Agent (bailiff) in abortive work.
The Process
On receiving a warrant, the bailiff company sends a letter to the debtor explaining that the debt has been passed to the company for collection and inviting payment with seven days. A fee for sending this letter (£11.20 + VAT) is added to the debt outstanding to be paid by the debtor.
If no payment is received or contact made, the case is assigned to an Enforcement Agent (bailiff) who, in order to execute the warrant, will Attend the property to Remove Goods (Attendance to Remove – ATR) to the value of the debt and outstanding fees and charges. This action will incur a levy (visit) fee and an ATR charge – whether goods are removed or not.
If no contact is made, the Enforcement Agent (bailiff) will leave a letter to say he/she has called, with details of the outstanding amount (including the fees and charges incurred on that visit) and a contact number.
If the debtor fails to contact the bailiff, the bailiff will call again until he/she is able to execute the warrant/collect the outstanding debt and charges/seize goods/confirm that it is not possible to recover the debt. (The fees and charges for each Attendance and any action taken are added to the letter fee and to the original debt. VAT is calculated on the total charges incurred.)
If no contact is made, Marston Group will then attempt to trace the debtor in order to execute the warrant. As the debtor has clearly failed to notify the authorities of their change of address, any reasonable costs incurred in tracing the debtor will be charged to the debtor and added to the debt.
Marston Group may also use further legal remedies if bailiff action is unsuccessful.
If goods are seized and/or removed the cost of doing this will be added to the debt and Statutory Charges and examples of these costs are detailed below.
Please note:
The fees and charges are added to the original debt and are cumulative. They are added by the bailiff company to cover the costs of recovering the debt on behalf of the local authority.
At each subsequent stage, the fees and any charges such as ATR incurred at the earlier stage(s) stand and the latest fee is added. VAT is then recalculated on the total fees and costs as detailed below.
Abortive fees:
If following the commencement of a removal or a contractor is requested to attend payment is tendered, an abortive fee (up to a maximum below) will be charged.
Fees
Where the outstanding amount (debt and fees):
- is less than £100, the fee is £28
- exceeds £100, the fee is 28% (of the outstanding amount)
- exceeds £200 the fee is £56 plus 5.5% (of the outstanding amount over £200)
Charges are shown in the table below.
| Description | Maximum Charge £ |
|---|---|
| Credit card handling fee | 3.45% |
| Debit card handling fee | 1.00 |
| HPI vehicle check | Up to 30.00 |
| Tracing | Up to 40.00 |
| Attendance to remove goods (ATR) | Up to 175.00 |
| Immobilisation - clamp | Up to 50.00 |
| Removal of vehicle (up to and including large van) | Up to 150.00 |
| Removal of vehicle (heavy goods vehicle) | Up to 175.00 |
| Removal of vehicle (cancelled tow truck) | Up to 100.00 |
| Storage of vehicle (per day) | 20.00 |