After the decision

E-decisions

The tribunal will send you an email telling you they’ve made a decision. You'll need to sign in to the Transport Appeals Tribunal for Scotland website to see the decision.

Postal decisions

The tribunal will send you a written decision about your appeal.

The decision will be:

• appeal won
• appeal lost

Appeal won

This means you do not need to pay the ticket or your recovery fee may be refunded in car towing cases.

Appeal lost

You'll need to pay the ticket within 28 days of receiving the decision.

In car towing cases, this means your recovery fee will not be refunded.

If you do not pay within 28 days, the council will:

• give you a 'Charge Certificate'
• increase your penalty by 50% and you must pay it within 14 days

Your ticket will not be 'paid' until the council receives the money. If you're paying by post you'll have to think about how long it'll take to arrive.

Can I take any further action?

You cannot make another appeal about the decision, but you can complain to the local council about how they handled your appeal.

How to complain

You can contact the local council that issued the parking ticket or bus lane fine to make a complaint.

If you're still unhappy after going through a council's complaints process, you can make a complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

You can contact the SPSO by:

• going to the SPSO website
• phoning 0800 377 7330
• sending a letter to the SPSO address

The Freepost SPSO address is 'Freepost SPSO'. This is all you need to write on the envelope. You don't need to use a stamp.

If you would like to visit the SPSO office in person, you must first phone SPSO on 0800 377 7330 to arrange a time. The office address is:

Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
Bridgeside House
99 McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NS

What else you can do if you've lost an appeal

Lost appeal – what you can do next

The Legal Member’s decision is final. You or the council cannot change the decision.

You can apply to the First-tier Tribunal to ask for a review of the decision . 

The tribunal can only look at a decision again for certain reasons. You cannot ask for a review because you do not agree with the decision.

There are 5 reasons you can ask for a tribunal to review a decision again: 

1. because of an error made by administration staff resulting in a wrong decision 
2. you did not appear or had someone representing you at a hearing and you had a good reason for this
3. new evidence became available after the hearing which each side could not have known about beforehand
4. new evidence became available where a decision was made without a hearing which each side could not have known about beforehand 
5. in the interest of justice needing such a review

How to ask for a review 

You need to apply in writing to ask for a review. You need to do this within 14 days of the tribunal sending their decision. You can either send it by:

• email to transportappeals@scotcourtstribunals.gov.uk
• post to: 
  Transport Appeals Tribunal
  George House
  126 George Street
  Edinburgh
  EH2 4HH

You need say which of the 5 reasons you’re applying for and explain this in full. 

Your application must say: 

• which decision the application for permission is about
• which of the 5 reasons you want to appeal on 
• the result you want 

You can appeal the decision to the Upper Tribunal. But you need to apply to the First-tier Tribunal to ask for permission to do this first. You need to do this within 30 days. 

The 30 days starts from either the date of:

• your appeal decision letter
• the hearing at which the decision was given verbally 
• the letter of written reasons you asked for following a hearing 

The tribunal can extend the time to ask for permission to appeal ‘on cause shown’ . 

You can ask for permission to apply to the Upper Tribunal without first asking for a review from the First-tier.

But if you do this you cannot ask for a review from the First-tier if the Upper Tribunal refuses your appeal. 

Won appeal - what happens next

The Legal Member’s decision is final. It’s binding on you and the council. 

The council can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for permission to appeal the decision to the Upper Tribunal.

The council can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal to ask for a review of the decision. They can only ask the tribunal to review a decision once. 

The tribunal can only look at a decision again for special reasons. The council cannot ask for a review because they do not agree with the decision.

The tribunal will let you know if the council asks them to review the decision or if they apply for permission to appeal. 

Expenses

You cannot usually get expenses but there are some exceptions. 

The main exception is if the Legal Member decides that either the council or you were unreasonable in how you dealt with the case. 

If you think this applies you can email transportappeals@scotcourtstribunals.gov.uk

You can also write to the tribunal at:

Transport Appeals Tribunal
George House
126 George Street
Edinburgh
EH2 4HH

If you cannot afford to pay a parking ticket or bus lane fine

If you can not afford to pay your parking or bus lane fine, Citizens Advice Scotland can give you advice on money, debt and the law.