Postal Conference – Motion 20
Branches will note that Motion 20 was carried at the Annual Conference. The motion called for any Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) or Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) issued as a result of a traffic violation to be brought to the attention of the Driver as soon as possible to allow for an appeal to be submitted. Anyone who breaches the conditions set by the relevant Council Traffic Rules, such as going against a ‘No Right Turn’ sign or driving in a bus lane, is liable to receive a PCN.
If payment is not made within 28 days, the Driver will then receive a Charge Certificate and have 14 days to pay the original fine plus a 50% additional fee. A court order is also likely to be issued, if the Charge Certificate is also not paid in time. Many Drivers who are issued a PCN often receive it past the 28-day deadline, losing the option of paying the original penalty charge without the extra 50% fee and are unable to challenge the PCN or even appeal the additional charge.
As clarified during the debate, the correct process to be followed and confirmed by Royal Mail, is that all PCNs are submitted to the Central Fleet address in Chesterfield, where they are processed by the Road Traffic Violations Team and then sent to the relevant offending office within 24 hours of receipt. The In-Life Team will also decide whether there are grounds to appeal the PCN centrally and if applicable will do so straight away and inform the relevant office. If the offence is identified by the In-Life Team as poor driver behaviour and requires immediate action or intervention from the office, a similar line of communication will also take place.
Once filtered, the PCNs are then forwarded on to the relevant office and the COM / appropriate manger must identify who was using that vehicle at the time of the breach and advise them to pay or appeal. If after their investigation the COM / appropriate manger and the Driver establish that there are no grounds for an appeal, the Driver will typically pay this penalty charge within the timeframe directly online and send the confirmation to the In-Life Team. Contained within this process is an option to complete a Payment Request Form whereby Drivers can have this penalty deducted from their salary, if they complete the attached form with their name and pay number. HR services will then deduct the payment from their pay.
If for any reason the office fails to inform the Driver of the PCN and the deadline has passed, the Driver can still pay the original amount and the local office will have to cover the increase, as noted in the Payment Request Form. The form will hold a PCN Reference and date of any discussion which was held between the COM and the Driver, if the discussion with the COM is delayed enough to miss the deadline.
Simply put, the PCN process at the office level is:
- Identify the Driver;
- Pass on the PCN to the Driver to pay the fine (taking note of the deadline date to ensure the fine does not escalate);
- The Manager to challenge the PCN with issuing authority, where appropriate;
- Email roadtrafficviolations@royalmail.com to confirm, if the Driver has paid the fine or the Manager has challenged it, including the PCN reference number.
Any enquiries to the content of this LTB should be directed to the Outdoor Department reference 300, email address: Pharacz@cwu.org.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Baulch
CWU Assistant Secretary
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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