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#Post#: 19840--------------------------------------------------
TfL ULEZ mistakes
By: John U.K. Date: April 17, 2024, 10:08 am
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From the Telegraph
HTML https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/15/driver-given-ulez-fine-despite-donating-his-car-to-ukraine/
[quote]
Driver given Ulez fine despite donating car to Ukraine
Charles Cooper says situation is Orwellian and would ‘rather go
to prison’ than pay fee
Gareth Corfield 15 April 2024 • 10:03pm
A driver has been handed a Ulez fine despite donating his car to
the Ukraine war effort last summer.
Charles Cooper, 65, drove his Volvo SUV across the Ukrainian
border in August 2023.
Yet Transport for London (TfL) sent Mr Cooper, of Lymington in
Hampshire, a series of fines after automated number plate
recognition cameras (ANPR) allegedly picked up the car being
driven through London in October.
TfL is chasing him for hundreds of pounds in penalties for
non-payment through the courts even though the accountant showed
that his car was given to Ukraine last year.
In a letter to The Telegraph, Mr Cooper said he has spent
hundreds of pounds on lawyers after officials rejected his
explanation that their automatic cameras had mistakenly
identified the wrong car.
“I have already provided adequate information showing details of
the export of this vehicle to the Ukrainian army, with
associated paperwork,” he wrote.
The chartered accountant, a former chief executive of investment
fund BRI Wealth Management, added: “I am not aware if the case
has been abandoned.
“This situation is positively Orwellian. What sort of country
are we living in?”
Mr Cooper said he would “rather go to prison” than pay a
wrongfully issued fine.
He said his ordeal began when fixed penalty notices were sent
late last year, which he did not immediately receive because he
was travelling in Greece.
He came home in January to find letters from the transport
authority had escalated into threats to take him to court for
non-payment.
One picture sent to him by TfL of the alleged infringement
showed “a very unclear photograph of the front of a Volvo which
they claim was my number plate”, he said.
“It looks to me like [the letters] OKK, and they say it’s OKW
which was my plate,” he added.
“But my car had been given to the Ukrainian army in August. I
drove it over there.”
A letter sent by TfL to Mr Cooper and seen by The Telegraph
said: “We have reviewed the vehicle image(s) and believe that
the charge(s) have/has been raised correctly.”
The letter invited him to send proof that the Volvo was at a
location outside the London charging zones on Oct 10 last year.
His car was delivered to Ukraine as part of a mercy mission by
the 4Ukraine humanitarian aid group, which delivers surplus cars
and medical supplies from the UK to the eastern European
country.
Mr Cooper said: “I sent them those papers. I sent them a
photograph of me handing the car over to my army contact who was
actually a priest. And they ignored it.
“The last thing I got from them was that I was going to be sent
to court... And bailiffs would be appointed, which was when I
wrote to [TfL] and said, well, there’s no point in doing that,
because I would rather go to prison than pay you anything.”
Photographs taken in August 2023 show Mr Cooper handing the grey
Volvo over to Ukrainian representatives.
A TfL spokesman said: “We are investigating what has happened
here. We will be speaking to Mr Cooper very soon.”
It comes as Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, remains locked in
battle over sending cars to Ukraine, despite pledging in
February that vehicles handed in under the Ulez scrappage scheme
would be sent to the Eastern European country.
Richard Lofthouse, a volunteer representing the Car for Ukraine
campaign, said that he had concerns over the speed with which
vehicles were reaching Ukraine.
It came after Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, suggested Mr
Khan was blocking the exports after the former cited legal
barriers when the idea was first put to him in 2023.
Under the conditions of the London ultra-low emission zone
(Ulez), owners of polluting older cars, such as the Volvo XC90
driven to Ukraine by Mr Cooper, must pay £12.50 per day for
driving inside the M25.
The London Congestion Charge, a £15-a-day tax, also applies for
driving inside inner London.
It is not the first time TfL has been accused of wrongly giving
drivers Ulez fines.
A government commissioner warned ministers last year that more
than two million motorists a day could be wrongly identified for
fines by Ulez or speed cameras.
Professor Fraser Sampson, the surveillance camera commissioner,
said the ANPR camera network’s 3 per cent error rate for reading
car number plates meant there were “significant risks” of
penalty notices being wrongly issued to innocent motorists.
One driver who was wrongly fined was a plumber who fitted his
company’s vans with customised number plates after TfL
incorrectly assumed the vans were too old – and thus too
polluting – to comply with Ulez.
Sam Reading bought four registration plates that created the
words “GAS JOB” for his company vehicles to help promote a
distinct brand for his business.
Yet the registrations were originally issued between 2002 and
2008 and so were classified by TfL as not Ulez
compliant.[/quote]
HTML https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2024/04/15/letters-west-must-not-hesitate-israel-iranian-aggression/
Letters to the Editor
15 April 2024 • 10:30pm
Orwellian Ulez threats
[quote]SIR – I have been accused of driving a Volvo illegally in
the Ulez area on October 10 last year.
The photographs provided do not clearly indicate the full
registration. However, more pertinently, on that date I was in
Greece. Furthermore the Volvo in question was given, by me, to
the Ukrainian army on August 18 2023. The DVLA has this recorded
as an exported vehicle.
I have endeavoured to inform Transport for London of these facts
but have only been met with greater threats. The latest was that
I was to be taken to court in Northampton within 21 days of
January 17. I am not aware of the result of this but have yet to
be arrested for contempt of court.
I have already provided adequate information showing details of
the export of this vehicle to the Ukrainian army, with
associated paperwork.
Latterly I have been obliged to put this matter in the hands of
my solicitors, as it was the last resort to avoid TfL’s threat
to appoint bailiffs. This has cost me well over £300 but has
caused TfL to cease communication, though not to admit any form
of culpability. I am not aware if the case has been abandoned.
This situation is positively Orwellian. What sort of country are
we living in?
Charles Cooper
Lymington, Hampshire[/quote]
HTML https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/16/drivers-handed-ulez-fines-despite-not-being-in-london/
[quote]
Driver handed London Ulez fine for car parked in Manchester
String of motorists come forward over payment demands for
vehicles that were not theirs
Patrick Sawer, Senior News Reporter 16 April 2024 • 4:34pm
Drivers are being given Ulez fines after cameras wrongly
identified their vehicles as being in the charge zone.
Motorists have contacted The Telegraph to report how they were
sent fines for non-payment of the Ulez charge in London, despite
a different vehicle being captured on the system’s cameras.
In one case the owner was sent a fine relating to non-payment of
Ulez for his Ford Mondeo, when Transport for London’s cameras
had captured a Nissan SUV.
At the time, the Mondeo was parked hundreds of miles away in
Greater Manchester.
The cases emerged after Charles Cooper, 65, was handed a Ulez
fine despite donating his car to the Ukraine war effort last
summer.
Transport for London (TfL) sent Mr Cooper, of Lymington in
Hampshire, a series of fines after automated number plate
recognition cameras (ANPR) allegedly picked up the car being
driven through London in October.
TfL has since been chasing him for hundreds of pounds in
penalties for non-payment through the courts even though the
accountant showed that his car was given to Ukraine last year.
After reading about Mr Cooper’s case, Arthur Bailey, a retired
designer from Greater Manchester reported that a similar thing
had happened with his son’s Ford Mondeo.
He told The Telegraph: “My son received a penalty charge from
them with the registration number and correct details of his
vehicle. However the vehicle in the attached photograph, the
‘proof’ of the alleged crime, was clearly a completely different
vehicle to his, possibly a Nissan SUV and certainly not the Ford
Mondeo he owned which had never been within a hundred miles of
London.
‘You’d think they’d have better things to do’
“This typifies how incompetent the Ulez system is. You’d think
they’d have better things to do than chase fines for the wrong
vehicles.”
TfL later established that Mr Bailey’s number plate had been
cloned and used on another car, resulting in him being charged.
It has since waived the fine.
Another motorist reported that his vehicle has been charged for
entering London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone after its personalised
number plate was apparently mistaken for one containing similar
numbers and letters.
On one occasion last month Hugh Blanchard’s antique silver
Mazda, which has the registration plate 444AA, was charged for
driving in St John’s Wood, north west London, when at the time
it was parked on his driveway in the south London suburb of
Bromley.
When he looked at the photographic evidence supplied by TFL, Mr
Blanchard, 64, realised the camera appeared to have captured
another vehicle that happened to have 444AA as part of its
registration number.
On further investigation he noticed the same car also appeared
to have been confused with his own two days earlier, this time
after being photographed driving through Mill Hill, in North
London.
‘My car was sitting on my drive’
“I use auto-pay for my car, and so this confusion over the
number plates means I’m getting automatically charged for a
vehicle that isn’t mine,” said Mr Blanchard, who works in IT.
“It’s extremely annoying. I know it’s not my car because it was
sitting on my drive on both occasions that it was charged for
being in the Ulez zone.
“I wonder if others are getting this problem with their cars
being charged when they are still in their garage?”
TfL said that Mr Blanchard’s car had been charged by mistake
because the correct vehicle’s number plate was slightly obscured
when it was photographed by the Ulez camera.
A TfL spokesman said on Tuesday: “After a review of Mr Cooper’s
case it is clear that the charge was issued in error. We
apologise for any distress caused and have cancelled the
outstanding charge.
“We have got procedures to deal with these issues and where
people have been charged incorrectly they will be refunded,”
said the spokesman.[/quote]
HTML https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2024/04/17/letters-west-appeased-putin-same-mistake-iran/
[quote]
Ulez errors
SIR – I have an almost antique silver Mazda with an unusual
number plate that has been identified by the Ulez system.
It turns out that a black Audi is being mistaken for my vehicle.
I wonder if others are having this problem, resulting in their
cars being charged even though they are still in the garage.
Hugh Blanchard
Bromley, Kent
SIR – Charles Cooper’s letter (“Orwellian Ulez threats”, April
16) illustrates how inept the system is.
My son received a penalty charge. The details and registration
number of his vehicle, a 2003 Ford Mondeo, were correct.
However, the vehicle in the accompanying photograph – the
“proof” – was clearly different, possibly a Nissan SUV and
certainly not my son’s car (which had never been within 100
miles of London).
As in Mr Cooper’s case, Transport for London would not accept
this. He had to photograph his vehicle and send copies to the
Ulez agents before they accepted they were wrong and withdrew
the penalty. Who controls such an obviously flawed operation?
Arthur Bayley
Tyldesley, Lancashire
SIR – I am reminded of the action TfL took against me over
Congestion Charge fines – which I had in fact paid – involving
Northampton court threats, bailiff visits and so on.
I counter-claimed compensation for the distress caused and won
thousands of pounds. I did this on my own, with no solicitor. My
advice is to go for it.
John Wallace
London SW18[/quote]
#Post#: 19848--------------------------------------------------
Re: TfL ULEZ mistakes
By: roythebus Date: April 17, 2024, 1:02 pm
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In similar vein, a clssic London bus, a former British European
Airways half-decker built in 1952. It's been locked away in the
garage at home for the last year with the engine in pieces.
Imagine my surprise to get a penalty charge notice from the Dart
Charge for a number of Dartford crossings in January this year.
A call to Dart Charge revealed that the same number is carried
by a 40 tonne lorry registered in an East European country! The
helpful chap at Dart Charge suggested I remove the bus from my
Dart account until it was back on the road.
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