Home> Parking and travel > Parking fines > Pay a parking fine

If you are looking for information about bus gate and bus lane fines, you need to visit the Essex County Council website.

Pay a parking fine

You have a total of 28 days from the issue date to pay your fine.

If you pay the parking fine within 14 days of the issue date, we will reduce the fine by 50%.

If you want to challenge the parking fine, don’t pay it as paying it means you accept liability.

When you make a challenge, we will freeze the notice period. If your challenge is unsuccessful, you will still get a 50% reduction if you pay within 14 days.

Pay now

You can pay your parking fine online using most debit and credit cards or PayPal.

We don’t accept American Express.

The minimum amount you can pay on a debit or credit card is £5.

To pay your parking fine online using a debit or credit card, you will need:

the 10-digit parking fine (PCN) number
your vehicle registration number
your debit or credit card details

You can't pay online if:

you are paying more than £70
you are on a payment plan

You can pay your parking fine at any time using our payment line.

Call: 0300 456 0489

We don’t accept American Express.

The minimum amount you can pay on a debit or credit card is £5.

To pay by phone, you will need:

the 10-digit parking fine (PCN) number
your vehicle registration number
your debit or credit card details, including the card number, CSV number, and start and expiry date

You can't pay via the payment line if you have a payment plan. If you have a payment plan, you will need to contact us.

You can pay your parking fine at the Post Office, a PayPoint outlet or using our self-service machines at the Customer Service Centre, Civic Centre.

To pay by at the Post Office or a PayPoint outlet, you will need your:

parking fine (PCN) ticket

To pay using a self-service machine, you will need:

the 10-digit parking fine (PCN) number

To pay by cheque, you need to:

make your cheque payable to Chelmsford City Council
include your 10-digit parking fine (PCN) number
send your cheque to us in the post, or post it in the secure box at the Civic Centre