Order for Recovery and TE9 Witness Statement: What to Do When Your Council PCN Reaches This Stage

How a Council PCN Reaches the Order for Recovery Stage

Council PCNs are issued under the Traffic Management Act 2004. After a PCN is issued, the driver has 28 days to pay or make an informal challenge. If neither happens, a Notice to Owner is served. The recipient then has 28 days to make formal representations to the council. If those representations are rejected and no appeal is made to the independent adjudicator (London Tribunals in London, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal outside London), or if the adjudicator upholds the charge, the PCN becomes payable.

If payment is still not made, the council issues a charge certificate, which increases the outstanding amount by 50 per cent. The council then registers the debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre, and the TEC issues an Order for Recovery to the registered keeper. From this point the council can apply for a warrant of control, allowing enforcement agents to collect the debt.

What a TE9 Witness Statement Is and When to Use It

A TE9 is a statutory witness statement filed at the Traffic Enforcement Centre. It is used when you did not receive, or were unable to respond to, an earlier stage of the enforcement process, meaning you could not make formal representations or appeal at the time. Grounds that the TEC accepts on a TE9 include: you did not receive the Notice to Owner; you made representations to the council but they were not properly considered; you appealed to the adjudicator but the appeal was not properly decided; or the Order for Recovery was served at an address where you no longer lived at the relevant time.

Filing a TE9 does not guarantee cancellation. The TEC will consider whether your witness statement discloses a valid ground and, if it does, the Order for Recovery can be revoked. The matter may then be referred back to allow you to make formal representations to the council, or the PCN itself may be re-examined. Because the TE9 is a statement of truth, the grounds you state must be accurate.

The TE7 Form: Applying for a Late Statutory Declaration

A TE7 is used alongside or instead of a TE9 in some circumstances. Where you received the Notice to Owner but did not respond in time, or where you wish to make a late witness statement on different procedural grounds, the TE7 form allows you to apply for permission to file out of time. The TEC has discretion to accept or refuse late filings, so the sooner you act after receiving the Order for Recovery, the stronger your position.

You should obtain the current versions of these forms directly from HM Courts and Tribunals Service and file them promptly. Once filed, enforcement action is typically paused while the TEC considers your application.

What Happens If You Do Nothing

If you ignore an Order for Recovery, the council can apply to the TEC for a warrant of control. Once issued, the council instructs enforcement agents who can visit your home or workplace, add significant fees, and ultimately remove goods. Compliance fees under the Taking Control of Goods regulations are set by statute and mount up quickly.

At the warrant stage your options become very limited. There is no further automatic right to challenge the original PCN on its merits at that point. This is why responding to the Order for Recovery stage, even if you believe the original PCN was wrong, is critical.

Grounds That Can Succeed at the TE9 Stage

Common grounds that can succeed on a TE9 witness statement include situations where correspondence was sent to an old address held by the DVLA and you had not yet updated your details, where a letter was genuinely lost in the post at the Notice to Owner stage, or where the council did not follow the correct statutory process at an earlier step.

Grounds that are less likely to succeed include simply disagreeing with the reason for the original PCN, having paid and the payment not being recorded, or claiming you were not the driver. Payment disputes and driver liability issues should ideally have been raised at the formal representations stage. That said, if you can show you did raise them and the council failed to respond properly, that can itself form a valid ground.

• ▸Non-receipt of the Notice to Owner at your registered address
• ▸Council failed to consider formal representations you did submit
• ▸Adjudicator appeal was lodged but not properly determined
• ▸Order for Recovery served to an address you had vacated

Discounts and Amounts at This Stage

It is important to understand that the early payment discount no longer applies once a charge certificate has been issued. The standard 50 per cent discount for paying within 14 days of the original PCN (21 days in postal or CCTV cases) is only available in the very early stage of enforcement. By the Order for Recovery stage, the debt is the original PCN amount plus the 50 per cent charge certificate surcharge, plus any court registration fees the council has added.

If your TE9 is successful and the matter is sent back to an earlier stage, you may again become eligible to pay at a reduced rate depending on where in the process the case is reset to. FineFlip can help you work out exactly where you stand.

Next Steps: Acting Before the Deadline

The Order for Recovery will state a date by which you must respond or pay. Do not wait until that deadline is close. Gather all paperwork relating to the PCN: the original notice, any correspondence with the council, proof of any payments or representations made, and details of your address history if relevant.

Use FineFlip to review your situation, identify the strongest grounds available to you, and prepare your response. This is educational information to help you understand the process, not legal advice; if the amounts involved are significant or the circumstances complex, consider seeking independent legal advice as well.

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