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What is a Statutory Declaration?
A Statutory Declaration is a formal legal declaration sworn under
oath. For Congestion Charges
there are only 3 grounds on which
you can dispute the charge. These are:
• That you did not receive the Penalty Charge Notice;
• That you made representations
to Transport for London within 28 days of service of the notice
to owner, but that you did not receive a rejection notice or that:
• You received the Notice of
Rejection from TfL, and appealed to
the Adjudicator as instructed, but that you have
not received a response to your appeal.
Making a false declaration is a criminal
offence.
If you have had notification from a bailiff that he will be visiting
you to enforce a warrant for an unpaid Congestion Charge that
you did not receive, you must immediately telephone the Traffic
Enforcement Centre on 08457-704-5007. They will check if
your details are on their system, and can send you a Statutory
Declaration by e-mail to complete “Out of Time”. Completing
this and having it sworn will stop
all bailiff action until such time as the matter has been dealt
with by either the court or local authority. You must ensure that
your "Out of Time" Statutory Declaration is returned to the court
as quickly as possible.
For all other cases, you will need to complete and return the
Statutory Declaration within 21 days
although there are provisions whereby the court may allow a longer
period of time.
Our understanding is that you may have 36
days from authorisation of the warrant
to submit a Statutory Declaration “out
of time” but in any event no later than one month from the end of the 36 day period.
If you require more time to complete
your statutory declaration, you may apply for a time extension
(either in writing or via the TEC Helpdesk). You will need to
ensure that you quote your penalty charge number, how much time
you need and the reason why. Please
note that TEC can only grant an extension of up to one
month
How do I get the Statutory Declaration sworn?
Once you have completed the Statutory Declaration,
you can go to almost any High Street solicitor and ask at the
reception desk if there is a solicitor free to swear the document.
You may have to wait 5 or 10 minutes at most. Nearly always, a
Junior Solicitor will deal with these matters, and he will simply
ask that you swear on the bible etc, that the document is yours
and that it contains your signature. There is a small fee of approx:
£8 for this. Alternatively, you can visit you local County
Court and you can swear the document there. The courts do
not make a charge for this. Please note that TEC will refuse
the Declaration if it has not been sworn correctly.
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