PE3 Witness Statement: What Grounds Can You Give?

If you have received papers from the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) telling you that a County Court Judgment has been registered against you for a bus lane or moving traffic contravention, the PE3 witness statement is the form that allows you to challenge it out of time. Getting the wording right matters, because the TEC will only accept your application if it falls within one of four specific legal grounds. This article explains what those grounds are, how to word your statement, and what happens once you have sworn it.

What Is a PE3 Witness Statement?

The PE3 is a statutory declaration used when you want to reopen a case relating to a bus lane or moving traffic contravention, such as an illegal right turn, a box junction offence, or driving in a restricted zone caught by camera enforcement. It is the counterpart to the TE9 form, which covers parking contraventions. Both forms exist to give motorists a route back into the process when they missed earlier stages through no fault of their own, or when something went wrong procedurally.

Crucially, a PE3 is not simply a form you fill in and post off. It is a formal statutory declaration, which means it must be sworn or affirmed in front of an independent, authorised witness, such as a solicitor or a Commissioner for Oaths, before it is submitted to the TEC. This is a legal requirement and applications submitted without proper witnessing will not be accepted.

The Four Grounds Accepted on a PE3

The TEC will only process a PE3 if your circumstances fit one of four defined grounds. You cannot use the form simply because you disagree with the penalty or think it is unfair. The grounds are procedural, focusing on whether you had proper notice and a fair opportunity to respond at each stage.

1. You Did Not Receive the Notice to Owner or Enforcement Notice

This is the most commonly used ground. If the original notice was never delivered to you, perhaps because it was sent to an old address, lost in the post, or never issued at all, you were denied the chance to make representations or pay a reduced penalty within the normal timeframe. If this applies to you, your statement should:

• Confirm the address the notice was allegedly sent to.
• State clearly that you did not receive it.
• Explain briefly why, if you know the reason, such as having moved house before the contravention date.

2. You Made Representations but Received No Reply

If you wrote to the enforcement authority within the 28-day period to challenge the penalty, but never received a rejection notice or any response at all, you may be entitled to use this ground. The key point is that you complied with the process, but the authority failed to respond, leaving you unable to appeal to an adjudicator in time.

Your statement should include:

• The date you sent your representations.
• How you sent them, such as by post or online.
• Confirmation that you received no reply of any kind.

3. You Appealed to an Adjudicator but Had No Response

Where representations were rejected and you then appealed to the independent adjudicator (the Traffic Penalty Tribunal in England outside London, or London Tribunals within London), but never received a decision, this third ground may apply. This is less common but does happen, particularly where correspondence goes astray.

4. You Paid the Penalty Charge in Full Before Court Proceedings Began

If you paid the penalty before the order for recovery was issued, but enforcement action such as a County Court Judgment was taken anyway, you can use this ground to have the matter corrected. This often arises from administrative error or a payment not being properly recorded.

What the PE3 Is Not For

It is important to understand what a PE3 cannot achieve. It is not an opportunity to argue that:

• The signage was unclear or the road layout was confusing.
• You were not driving at the time.
• The penalty amount is excessive.
• You have since changed your mind about the merits of the original contravention.

These are matters that belong to an earlier stage of the process, such as informal representations or an adjudicator appeal. The PE3 exists purely to reopen the case procedurally so that those earlier stages can happen at all. If your PE3 is accepted, the case is essentially reset, and you are given the opportunity to make representations again, this time within the proper timeframe.

Wording Your Statement Correctly

The written statement section of the PE3 should be factual, concise, and specific. Adjudicators and court officials see a high volume of these forms, and vague or emotional statements are less persuasive than clear, dated accounts. A good statement typically:

• States which of the four grounds applies.
• Sets out relevant dates in chronological order.
• Avoids irrelevant background or argument about the contravention itself.
• Confirms the current correspondence address so future notices reach you.

For example, rather than writing "I never got anything from the council and think this is unfair," a stronger approach would be: "I did not receive the Notice to Owner said to have been served on [date]. I first became aware of this matter when I received a County Court Judgment notification on [date]. My correct address at the time was [address]."

Swearing the Declaration

Because a PE3 is a statutory declaration, it carries the same legal weight as a sworn statement in court. This is why an independent authorised witness must confirm your identity and watch you sign it, rather than you simply completing it at home. This requirement exists to protect the integrity of the process, since a false statutory declaration can amount to a criminal offence.

Many people find arranging this in-person appointment the most inconvenient part of the process, particularly if they are short on time or unfamiliar with where to find a Commissioner for Oaths locally. Our service arranges an in-person witnessing appointment for a fixed fee of £49, which covers the administrative cost of arranging the appointment itself. This fee is not a court or statutory charge, and it does not affect whether the TEC accepts your PE3 or not. Acceptance always depends on whether your grounds and evidence satisfy the legal test, not on how the document was witnessed.

Parking Contraventions Are Different

If your penalty relates to a parking contravention rather than a bus lane or moving traffic offence, you need the TE7 (application for extension of time) and TE9 (witness statement) forms instead. Helpfully, a TE9 does not need to be sworn before a third-party witness in the same way a PE3 does, since it is a witness statement rather than a statutory declaration. It is worth checking your original paperwork carefully to establish which type of contravention you are dealing with, since submitting the wrong form will cause delay.

Next Steps

If you believe your case fits one of the four grounds above, gather any dates, letters, or evidence you have showing when notices were sent or received, and set out your account clearly and chronologically before arranging to have your PE3 sworn before an authorised witness. Taking this step promptly gives you the best chance of having your case properly reconsidered.