Question: is a penalty charge notice a fixed penalty

Answer: No, This was the original use for FPNs, currently continuing in Great Britain under powers provided by the Road Traffic Act 1991 as well as in Northern Ireland; in many areas this style of enforcement has been taken over from police by local authorities. Some other motoring offences (other than parking) can also be dealt with by the issue of FPNs by police, VOSA or local authority personnel. FPNs issued by local authority parking attendants are backed with powers to obtain payment by civil action and are defined as ``penalty charge notices'', distinguishing them from other FPNs which are often backed with a power of criminal prosecution if the penalty is not paid; in the latter case the ``fixed penalty'' is sometimes designated as a ``mitigated penalty'' to indicate the avoidance of being prosecuted which it provides.