Nearly 10,000 Surrey Drivers Owed Refunds After Council’s Six-Year Parking Blunder

If you have ever parked in a council car park in Esher, Cobham, Hersham, Walton-on-Thames or Weybridge since January 2020, there is a real chance you were wrongly fined. Elmbridge Borough Council has admitted that 9,318 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were incorrectly issued across 17 of its car parks over the past six years, and is now preparing to pay back an estimated £308,000 to affected drivers.

The council announced the error on 11 May 2026, along with an apology and a commitment to open a refund scheme in June, once formal approval is granted by councillors at the Cabinet meeting on 19 May. Every driver who paid one of these incorrect fines is entitled to claim it back, but the council has no way to contact people directly, so it is entirely up to motorists to come forward.

A standard Elmbridge PCN costs £50, reduced to £25 if paid within 14 days. With 9,318 notices issued in the affected category, the total exposure reflects a mix of drivers who paid the reduced and full amounts. The council has confirmed the £308,000 refund bill will come from existing financial reserves, with no cuts to services or new charges introduced to cover the cost.

What Went Wrong and Why the Fines Were Invalid

The error stems from a failure to properly follow the legal process for establishing parking restrictions in council-operated car parks. Under the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007, local authorities must follow strict procedural steps before they can legally issue PCNs at a given location. These include proper consultation, the formal making of a Traffic Regulation Order or equivalent arrangement, and correct signage.

Elmbridge has confirmed the problem involved how paperwork for introducing the fines was handled and a failure to undertake full consultation when introducing new parking arrangements. In plain terms, the council was enforcing restrictions it had not legally put in place. Any PCN issued without the correct legal foundation is unenforceable, and drivers who paid these fines are entitled to their money back.

The affected notices fall into two categories. First, fines issued between 8am and 9am or between 6pm and 7pm in 11 specific car parks since 6 January 2020, a window when restrictions were not lawfully in force. Second, fines issued on any Sunday across 17 car parks since 24 April 2022, where Sunday restrictions were similarly not properly established.

Dawn Crewe, Strategic Director at Elmbridge Borough Council, said in a statement: “I am very sorry that a procedural error has led to parking fines being issued incorrectly in some of our car parks. I understand this will be frustrating for those affected, and I want to reassure residents and visitors that we are doing everything we can to put this right. The refund process will be kept as straightforward as possible, with refunds issued within two weeks of successful application, and we will make sure the scheme is widely publicised so that everyone who may be affected is aware.”

The Full List of Affected Car Parks

The following car parks in Esher are affected for fines issued between 8am and 9am or between 6pm and 7pm since 6 January 2020: Berguette, Civic Centre, Heather Place, and Highwayman’s Cottage. In Cobham, the affected car parks are Cedar Road and Hollyhedge Road. In Walton-on-Thames, Drewitt’s Court and Manor Road are included, and in Weybridge the affected sites are Churchfield Road, Monument Hill, and Baker Street.

For Sunday fines issued since 24 April 2022, the list is broader. All of the above car parks are included, plus Mayfield Road in Hersham; Ashley Park, Station Avenue, and Walton Park in Walton-on-Thames; and Heath North and Heath South in Weybridge. Ashley Park has additional criteria: fines issued between 8am and 10am or between 6pm and 7pm since January 2020 are also in scope for refunds.

If you are unsure whether a particular visit to any of these car parks resulted in a fine, check any records you have to hand: bank statements, email confirmations of payment, or the physical PCN if you still have it.

How to Claim Your Refund

The refund scheme cannot open until councillors formally approve it at the Elmbridge Cabinet meeting on 19 May 2026. If approved, the scheme goes live in June, though an exact date has not yet been confirmed. Once it opens, there are two ways to apply: online through the council website at elmbridge.gov.uk, or by calling 01372 474 474.

When making your claim, you will need to provide your name and contact details, your vehicle registration number, proof that you paid the fine, and your bank details for the refund transfer. The council has committed to processing successful claims within 14 days of receiving a complete application.

No interest will be added to the refund amount. The council considered this but decided against it, citing the need to be responsible with public money. The refund covers the PCN amount only, whether that was the full £50 or the discounted £25 early-payment rate.

Drivers who were subject to debt recovery or bailiff action over one of these invalid fines will be contacted directly by the council, as their details are already held on file. If you know you went through enforcement action and want to start the process without waiting, call 01372 474474.

There is an important deadline to note: all claims must be received by March 2027. At that point, Elmbridge Borough Council is due to be dissolved and absorbed into the newly formed East Surrey council as part of the local government reorganisation in Surrey. Do not leave it too late.

This Is Not the First Time a Council Has Done This

Elmbridge is not alone. The regulatory framework governing council parking enforcement is detailed, and the consequences of procedural failures fall on ordinary drivers who paid fines in good faith with no reason to suspect anything was wrong.

Reading Borough Council went through a near-identical situation when it discovered that five Traffic Regulation Orders were not properly in place on certain roads, invalidating 6,136 PCNs issued between 2013 and 2024. Reading chose to offer refunds with added interest, a decision Elmbridge has not replicated. Drivers who feel that the absence of interest is unjust can raise a complaint with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at lgo.org.uk.

The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007 requires councils to complete consultation, formal orders, and correct signage before enforcement action is legally valid. When councils miss steps in this process, often due to administrative oversight rather than deliberate wrongdoing, it is drivers who pay the price. Staff involved in day-to-day enforcement have no obligation to verify the legal foundation of the restrictions they are applying, and drivers who receive a PCN have no practical way to know whether the underlying restriction was lawfully made.

Statistics from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, the independent body that handles parking appeals outside London, show that around 50% of formal appeals succeed. That is a striking figure. For most drivers, though, the discounted fine is paid quickly to avoid the penalty doubling, and the legality of the restriction behind it is never questioned.

Know Your Rights: Contesting a PCN Anywhere in England

If you receive a PCN that you believe was wrongly issued, whether in Elmbridge or anywhere else in England, you have specific statutory rights. Every council PCN must be followed by a Notice to Owner if it goes unpaid, and you have 28 days from that point to make formal representations to the issuing authority. One of the statutory grounds for challenge is procedural impropriety on the part of the authority, which is the exact legal basis on which Elmbridge’s fines were invalid.

If the council rejects your representations, you can appeal to an independent adjudicator at no cost. In London this is the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service. Elsewhere in England and Wales, it is the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. Both bodies are entirely independent of the issuing council, and their decisions are binding on the authority. The council cannot ignore a ruling in your favour.

For drivers who suspect a fine may have been wrongly issued because a restriction seemed unusual, it is worth submitting a Freedom of Information request to the council asking for the Traffic Regulation Order that underpins the restriction. If the order cannot be produced, or was not properly made, the fine has no legal basis.

Elmbridge has committed to fixing the underlying legal framework alongside the refund scheme, including extending free parking and reducing charging hours at town centre car parks from July 2026. The council also froze its parking charges in the 2026/27 budget. These are welcome concessions, but they do not change the fact that nearly 10,000 drivers paid fines over six years that should never have been issued.

Sources:

• Elmbridge Borough Council official statement
• GB News: Major blunder sees thousands wrongly fined for six years
• Surrey Live: Over 9,000 Surrey drivers due parking fine refunds