On this page you will find information and guidance on the following:
If you have received a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN)
A PCN will be issued if the Clean Air Zone charge is not paid by the end of the 6th day after travelling in the zone.
Payment of the penalty charge should be made as early as possible to avoid an increase in the penalty charge and / or further action being taken. Payment can only be made in full.
The amount requested on the PCN is a combination of the original CAZ charge and the PCN amount of £120.00. However, the PCN amount can be reduced to £60 if payment is within 14 days.
Using our online service, you can pay for a PCN quickly and securely using your credit or debit card. You will need your Vehicle Registration Number and PCN reference number (that begins with NA) to use the online service.
The outstanding payment should be paid no later than 28 days beginning with the date the notice was served, known as the Date of Service.
The Date of Service is classed as the second working day after the day of posting. Working days exclude Saturdays, Sundays, New Year’s Day, Christmas Day, Good Friday and any other day which is a Bank Holiday in England and Wales. Newcastle City Council calculates the Date of Service for you and includes it on the PCN.
Newcastle City Council will accept the discounted PCN sum of £60, plus the CAZ charge, if it receives payment within 14 days beginning with the date the notice was served.
A PCN payment should be made online.
You will need the vehicle registration and the PCN reference number (begins NA) to make the payment.
In order to stop duplicate PCN payments being made please be aware of the following:
Any payments taken today before 5.30pm will not appear against the Penalty Charge Notice until the next working day.
Any payments taken today after 5.30pm will not appear against the Penalty Charge Notice until the day after the next working day.
If paying after 5.30pm on a Friday night & over the weekend any payments taken will not appear against the Penalty Charge Notice until the following Tuesday.
If paying after 5.30pm on Friday night & over a Bank Holiday weekend payments taken will not appear against the Penalty Charge Notice until the following Wednesday.
Working day means Monday to Friday excluding Bank Holidays.
Other ways to pay a PCN
Telephone
You can make a PCN payment over the phone. Please call the payment line on 0191 2787878 ask for “payments”.
You will need the PCN reference number (begins NA) to make the payment.
Post
You can also send Cheque or Postal Order payments by post to the following address, if you prefer to use this payment method:
CAZ Team, Newcastle City Council, 7th Floor, Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH.
Payment should be made to ‘Newcastle City Council’. Please also ensure the PCN number and the vehicle registration are written on the back of the Cheque or Postal Order, in black ink.
If you believe the Penalty Charge Notice should be cancelled you must write to us and provide your grounds of appeal.
Get advice
If you need help or advice with this you can get online support using our chat service.
This will take about three minutes and can:
help you decide whether an appeal is likely to succeed; and
tell you what evidence you’d need to provide.
Appeal online
If you don’t wish to use the online chat service for advice, you can go straight to the appeal page, where you will need to enter your vehicle registration number and your PCN reference number, which begins with the letters NA.
You will be able to see your case details, any photo or CCTV evidence and you can choose to pay or appeal your PCN.
Appeal by post
You can submit a written appeal to us by post to the following address:
CAZ Team, Newcastle City Council, 7th Floor, Civic Centre, Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH.
You will need include the vehicle registration and the PCN reference number in any written correspondence.
We may consider mitigating circumstances, although some of the following reasons will not normally be accepted:
My Sat Nav equipment directed me into the CAZ.
I was only in the zone for a few seconds.
I was delivering to / visiting an address which is in the CAZ.
I was lost.
I didn’t see the signs.
We will not accept appeals over the telephone.
Read more information on the council’s PCN cancellation criteria.
How can I view the images captured by the camera?
You can view the images of the vehicle using the link below
Clear Air Zone Payments (newcastle.gov.uk)
You will need the vehicle registration and the PCN reference number (begins NA) to view the images.
Failure to pay a PCN
A PCN must be paid within 28 days of the date of being served.
Failure to make the payment or to submit representation against the PCN will result in a Charge Certificate being issued.
If you have received a Charge Certificate
A Charge Certificate is issued if a PCN is not paid and no representations against the PCN have been submitted within 28 days of the PCN being served.
The Charge Certificate increases the original penalty fee by 50 per cent and you have 14 days in which to make this payment.
If no payment is received within 14 days we may register the charge as a debt and you may subsequently be contacted by our enforcement agents.
The Charge Certificate is the first letter I have received about this Penalty Charge Notice.
If you did not receive the Penalty Charge Notice we may still consider representations. You will need to supply evidence that you were not at the address supplied to us by the DVLA when the PCN was served.
Please use the link to contact us and state that you did not receive the Penalty Charge Notice. Please also supply evidence you were away from the address we used when the PCN was issued. If you believe there are grounds to cancel the PCN, please include the reason(s) for us to consider.
Failure to pay following a Charge Certificate
If full payment is not received following the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice and Charge Certificate, we will issue an Order for Recovery.
If you have received an Order for Recovery
When an Order for Recovery is issued, it means that the outstanding amount owed has been registered as debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre. The cost of registering the debt is £10, which is also added to the outstanding amount.
If no payment is received within 21 days a warrant may be issued and you may subsequently be contacted by our enforcement agents.
I have received the Order for Recovery but believe I have grounds to challenge this
If you believe you have grounds to challenge an Order for Recovery, you can submit a Witness Statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.
A Witness Statement can be submitted in the following circumstances:
you did not receive the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN);
you submitted representations in response to the PCN and did not receive a response from the council or a response from the independent adjudicator;
you have already paid the Penalty Charge.
How to file a Witness Statement
The Order for Recovery includes the Witness Statement (TE9) form that you can complete and return.
You must tick the relevant ground which applies, complete the form and send it to the Traffic Enforcement Centre. Please do not send the TE9 form to Newcastle City Council.
The completed Witness Statement (TE9) should be sent to:
County Court Business Centre
St Katharine’s House,
21 – 27 St Katharine’s Street
Northampton
NN1 2LH
Alternatively, email the document to TEC@justice.gov.uk
Failure to pay following an Order for Recovery
If full payment is not received following the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice, Charge Certificate and Order for Recovery the council will request a warrant from the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) and pass the warrant to an enforcement agent to recover the outstanding debt.
If you have received a letter from an enforcement agency
If the outstanding debt is passed to an enforcement agency, it means that the enforcement agent will seek to collect the outstanding amount owed on behalf of the council.
In line with nationally agreed terms, the enforcement agent can add a compliance fee to the outstanding amount when they issue their first letter. The compliance fee is currently £75.
If the outstanding amount remains unpaid and the enforcement agent is required to attend the property where the debt is registered, then an enforcement fee is also added. This fee is currently £235.
If you have received a letter from an enforcement agent for an outstanding CAZ Penalty Charge Notice, then you must contact the enforcement agent directly to arrange payment of the outstanding charges. The council cannot accept payment directly at this stage.
I have received a letter or contact from an enforcement agent but I believe I have grounds to challenge this
If you believe you have grounds to challenge enforcement agent action, you can submit a Late Witness Statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre. A Late Witness Statement requires 2 forms to be submitted to the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC). A TE9 Witness Statement form and a TE7 Application to file a statement out of time.
A Witness Statement (TE9) can be submitted in the following circumstances:
you did not receive the Penalty Charge Notice (PCN);
you submitted representations in response to the PCN and did not receive a response from the council or a response from the independent adjudicator;
you have already paid the Penalty Charge.
An application to file a statement out of time form (TE7) should include details and evidence to support your Witness Statement.
How to file a Late Witness Statement
If you still have your Order for Recovery letter, it includes the Witness Statement (TE9) form that you can complete and return.
If you do not have the copy of the TE9 from your Order for Recovery, this can be obtained online by going to Court and tribunal forms - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) where you can search for both the TE9 and TE7 forms.
For the TE7 form you should select the form titled ‘Dart Charge, Mersey Gateway, clean air zones - Apply for more time to challenge a traffic enforcement order: Form TE7’.
For the TE9 form you should select the form titled ‘Dart Charge, Mersey Gateway, clean air zones - Challenge a traffic enforcement order: Form TE9’.
On the TE9 form, you must tick the relevant ground which applies, complete the form and send it to the Traffic Enforcement Centre, along with the completed TE7 form. Please do not send these forms to Newcastle City Council.
The completed forms should be sent to:
County Court Business Centre
St Katharine’s House,
21 – 27 St Katharine’s Street
Northampton
NN1 2LH
Alternatively, email the documents to TEC@justice.gov.uk