What will happen if I don't pay?

If you fail to pay the Clean Air Zone daily charges

You will receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) for £120 penalty charge plus the road user charge if you drive a non-compliant vehicle in the Bradford CAZ and fail to pay any daily charge due within the payment window. Read more information about how to pay the daily charge.

If you fail to pay the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) charges

If you do not challenge or pay the penalty charge within 28 days of the PCN, we may issue you with a Charge Certificate. This will increase the penalty charge by 50%, to £180. You will also have to pay the outstanding CAZ charge.

What will happen if I don't pay after the issue of a Charge Certificate?

If payment is not made 14 days after receipt of the Charge Certificate, we may register the penalty charge with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) at Northampton County Court to recover the unpaid charge. This will add a further £10 in costs.

Once the penalty charge is registered at TEC, you will be issued with an Order for Recovery of Unpaid Penalty Charge (form TE3). You will then be given 21 days in which to pay or to submit a witness statement to the TEC. A copy of the Witness State form (TE9) is included with the Order for Recovery.

How to make a payment

To pay the penalty charge in full, you will need to provide the following information:

• the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) number (for example, DY12345678)
• your vehicle registration number

Pay the PCN online

By telephone

Call 0345 145 0071

You can use your credit or debit card. Please allow one working day after the issue of the Order for Recovery before making a payment.

Making a witness statement

You may make a witness statement to the TEC under the following grounds, which apply to you:

• You did not receive the penalty charge notice.
• You made representations about the penalty charge notice to the Charging Authority within 28 days of service of the notice but did not receive a reply (notice of rejection).
• You appealed to an adjudicator against the Charging Authority’s decision to reject your representation within 28 days, but either:
  • had no response to your appeal, or
  • the appeal had not been determined by the time that the charge certificate had been served, or
  • the appeal was determined in your favour.
• You paid the penalty charge to which the charge certificate relates. You must provide details of the date payment was made, the method of payment, for example cash or cheque, and who the payment was made to.

Please note you may be asked to provide proof of payment upon request.

Proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against you by the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC), if you make or cause to be made a false statement, verified by a statement of truth, without an honest belief in its truth.

You must file the witness statement by the date shown on the Order for Recovery.

Once completed send to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at:

County Court Business Centre
St Katharine’s House
21 - 27 St Katharine’s Street
Northampton
NN1 2LH

or tec@justice.gov.uk

I need more time to submit a witness statement

You can ask for more time to challenge an Order of Recovery if you:

• were contacted about a penalty charge notice (PCN) you did not know about
• were contacted about a paid or cancelled PCN.
• did not get a response to your formal challenge ('representation') or appeal.

Do this by making an ‘out of time’ challenge to the order of recovery.

For more information and to download the 'out of time' form, please visit: Appeal against a penalty charge notice: Getting more time to challenge a court order.

Further enforcement action

Failure to either pay the penalty charges or submit a witness statement within 21 days of the Order for Recovery of Unpaid Penalty Charge (form TE3) may result in legal action being taken against you which can involve using Enforcement Agents to recover unpaid penalty charges and there will be further costs to pay.

What happens if my case is passed to an Enforcement Agency?

Direct payment to the Council should not be made.

If your case has been passed to the Council's external Enforcement Agents, you will be unable to pay and you must contact the relevant agent:

• Jacobs: 0345 601 2692
• CDER: 0330 4605295

If a payment is made to the Council, then you will still be liable for any costs incurred since the case passed across to enforcement.

For more information or to download TEC forms

• Appeal against a penalty charge notice: If you get a court order
• Charge Certificates and Orders for Recovery - Traffic Penalty Tribunal

You can also contact the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) by:

• Email: tec@justice.gov.uk
• Phone: 0300 123 1059
• In writing: 5th Floor, St Katharine's House, 21-27 St Katharine's Street, Northampton. NN1 2LH