Got a ULEZ, Clean Air Zone, Dart Charge or Congestion Charge fine?
Check in two minutes whether the law gives you a ground to challenge it, and exactly how long you have. Every rule comes from the regulations and the official scheme pages, with the source shown.
- 17 schemes, each checked against official sources
- Your answers stay on your device
- Full refund within 14 days if you haven't downloaded a letter.
Find your charge
- Dartford CrossingPenalty £70, £35 if paid within 14 days.
- Congestion ChargePenalty £180, £90 if paid within 14 days.
- London ULEZPenalty £180, £90 if paid within 14 days.
- Mersey Gateway (merseyflow)Penalty £50, £25 if paid within 14 days.
- Tyne TunnelsPenalty £30.
- Blackwall & Silvertown tunnelsPenalty £180, £90 if paid within 14 days.
- Birmingham CAZPenalty £120, £60 if paid within 14 days.
- Bristol CAZPenalty £120, £60 if paid within 14 days.
All zones (ULEZ, 7 Clean Air Zones, 4 Scottish LEZs) · All crossings
How it works
- Check, free. Tell us the scheme, the dates and what happened. We show which legal grounds fit, the regulation behind each one, and your discount and challenge deadlines.
- Decide. If no ground fits, paying at the 50% discount is often cheapest, and we say so. If one does, you challenge.
- Send your letter. Write it yourself using our guides, or buy a letter built from your answers: the representation letter for £5.99, or the full pack for £14.99 with the tribunal appeal and later-stage letters.
Get your letter written for you
Built from your checker answers, with the right grounds and regulation numbers for your scheme. You see the start of the letter before you pay, then edit it and download it as Word or PDF.
Representation letter
Your formal challenge to the authority, citing each ground that fits with its regulation number, the evidence you enclose and a request to cancel.
Start my letterFull pack
The representation, a tribunal appeal statement, replies at the charge certificate and debt registration stages, witness statement and out-of-time wording, and a bailiff fee check.
Start the full packOne penalty per purchase, usable for 6 months. Full refund within 14 days if you haven't downloaded a letter. Templates you send yourself, not legal advice. See sample letters
Common situations
- Penalty for a car you had already soldPenalty for a car you had already sold: the legal ground, what evidence to send, why DVLA records matter and what the buyer's details are for.
- Penalty from cloned number plates: how to challenge itPenalty notice for somewhere you never drove: how to show plates were cloned, the "without consent" ground, police references and photos.
- Penalty on a hire or lease car: who pays and how to challengeA charge penalty on a hire or lease car: when the firm can pass it to you, what the hirer must have signed, and how to challenge it.
- Paid for the wrong day or the wrong number plateYou paid but typed the wrong registration or chose the wrong date: why a PCN follows, how to fix it, and what to send when you challenge.
- You have a charge certificate: what it means and what to doWhat a charge certificate is, the 50% increase, the 14 days you have, and the few ways left to challenge at this stage.
- Order for recovery: the 21 days and how to challengeAn order for recovery for a ULEZ, CAZ or Dart Charge PCN: the 21 days, the four statements you can make, forms TE13, PE3 and TE14.
The process
- How to challenge a road charge penalty: making representations
- Appealing to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal
- Appealing to London Tribunals (Road User Charging Adjudicators)
- Every deadline for a road charge penalty
- Pay at the discount or challenge? How to decide
- Challenging a Scottish Low Emission Zone penalty
What we cover, and what we don't
We cover penalties for road user charges: London's ULEZ, Congestion Charge and the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels; the Clean Air Zones in Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth, Sheffield and Newcastle and Gateshead; the Low Emission Zones in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow; and the Dartford, Mersey Gateway and Tyne Tunnel crossings.
Council parking, bus lane and moving traffic PCNs are covered by our sister site councilfinecheck.co.uk, and private car park charges by carparkcheck.co.uk. We don't cover speeding or police matters, and we never take payment for the charges themselves: pay those on the official websites.