Council or transport authority Yellow box PCN

This situation: A stop so short it is legally insignificant (de minimis) may mean no contravention. - full question

If you stopped, was it only for a split second, so short it might not count as a real stop?

Challenge guidance for this situation

This page explains a common yellow box PCN appeal angle. If the checker brought you here, the guidance below is adjusted using your yes/no answer in the URL. This is not legal advice.

JavaScript is off, so this page is showing the default challenge wording for this topic. If your answer was "no" or "not sure", use the guidance cautiously and compare it with the full question above.

Your draft letter

Replace everything in [square brackets] with your own details. Scroll inside the box if the text is long.

Subject: Representation / appeal: yellow box [PCN number]

I dispute this penalty. Any halt in the yellow box was extremely brief, only about [seconds if known].

A stop that short should be treated as legally insignificant and not a real contravention. Please check the timing on your footage.

[Date, time, location, registration.]

Yours faithfully,

[Name]

Guidance for your case

What to do next

Say how short the stop was, in seconds if you can from the video.

Why this can matter

Adjudicators have treated very brief halts as too small to count, 'de minimis', so the penalty fails.

Split-second stop: quote seconds from the film if you can.