What Happens Next?
If the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton is satisfied
that the Statutory Declaration has been properly made, it will
usually make an Order cancelling the Order for Recovery and the
Charge Certificate (and thereby cancelling any bailiff action)
but the Penalty Charge will not be cancelled and will remain ‘live’.
If the Statutory Declaration was made on the ground that:
You did not receive the original Penalty Charge:
• The local authority should then send another copy of the
Penalty Charge Notice that you may pay, or you will have the opportunity
to make representations against the Penalty Charge Notice and
follow the usual appeals process.
You made representations or appealed to the Adjudicator, but did
not receive a reply:
• In this case, the local authority is under a duty to refer
the case to the Adjudicator for further consideration.
The Adjudicator will then decide whether the case should proceed
to an appeal hearing in the normal way.
A Statutory Declaration will be refused
by the TEC if any of the following reasons apply:
• It has not been signed in the presence of a commissioner
for oaths, an officer of the county court appointed by the judge
to take affidavits, or a justice of the peace.
• It has not been filed on one of the valid grounds.
If the penalty charge is a London Borough
parking offence, the TEC will also refuse the Statutory
Declaration for the following reasons:
• It has been filed on more than one of the valid grounds.
• The witness has not provided a full postal address.
• The named respondent has not completed the Statutory
Declaration.
Filing a late statutory Declaration or requesting more time.
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 will need, and the reason why
you require more time. Please note that TEC can only grant an
extension of up to one month
It is worth noting that the process is different when making an
Out of Time Application. If the matter
is dealt with within the correct time frame, the TEC will cancel
the Order for Recovery and Charge Certificate. Any bailiff
action must cease.
The difference with an "Out of Time" application is that a copy
of your Statutory Declaration and all attached correspondence
is posted by the Court to the Local Authority who then have 14
days to decide whether they are going to accept or oppose your
application.
Note: The Local Authority must
suspend any bailiff action until a final order has been
made.
If the Local Authority accepts the application, it will be processed
by the TEC as a normal Statutory Declaration. The registration
will be cancelled and the action will be passed back to the Local
Authority.
If the Local Authority opposes the application within the 14-day
period, then they have a further 24 days to file a Statement of
Truth or Affidavit. One receipt of this, the TEC will refer the
case without hearing to a Court Officer for a decision.
Our advice therefore is to try to ensure that you file the Statutory
Declaration within time.
What happens if I do not respond?
If you do not file a valid Statutory Declaration with TEC within
21 days of the date on the Order for Recovery, the Local Authority
may enforce the Charge by requesting a Warrant of Execution. Once
the warrant has been authorised by TEC, the local authority will
instruct their certificated bailiffs to execute the warrant.
The actual warrant is not produced
at Northampton County Court. Instead it is sent electronically to the local authority. It is now common practice for the warrant
to be printed by the bailiff company.
|
