Humiliating blow for Sadiq Khan’s hated London ULEZ scheme as driver hit with fine despite being parked in MANCHESTER
SADIQ Khan’s hated London ULEZ scheme has been delivered a humiliating blow after a driver was hit with a fine despite his car being parked in Manchester.
Camera blunders mean cars are being incorrectly identified as being within the capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
The scheme was set up by the mayor in an attempt to clean up London’s car pollution and improve the air quality.
In one embarrassing case, a car owner was set a fine relating to the non-payment of ULEZ for his Ford Mondeo, when it was actually parked hundreds of miles away in Greater Manchester.
To make matters worse, the car that had been photographed by the Transport for London (TfL) cameras was a Nissan SUV.
Retired designer Arthur Bailey, from Greater Manchester said that his son had been sent the fine through the post.
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He told : “My son received a penalty charge from them with the registration number and correct details of his vehicle."
But Mr Bailey added: “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.
“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.”
It was later established by TfL that Mr Bailey’s number plate had been cloned and used on another car and it has since waived the fine.
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In another case, Charles Cooper, 65, of Lymington in Hampshire, got sent a number of ULEZ fines after automated number plate recognition cameras (ANPR) allegedly picked up the car being driven through London in October.
TfL has been chasing Mr Cooper for hundreds of pounds of penalties, even though the accountant showed that his car had been donated to Ukraine to help in the war effort last summer.
In another apparent blunder, another motorist said his vehicle had been charged for entering the ULEZ area after its personalised number plate was apparently mistaken for another which contained similar numbers and letters.
Last month, Hugh Blanchard’s antique silver Mazda, with the plate 444AA, was charged for driving in St John’s Wood, north west London, when it was actually parked on his driveway in the suburb of Bromley, South London.
After examining the photographic evidence supplied by TfL, the IT worker, 64, realised the camera had actually captured another vehicle which happened to have 444AA as part of its registration number.
What is ULEZ?
The ULEZ policy was introduced in 2019 in a bid to cut pollution in the city of London.
ULEZ fines drivers of motors that do not meet certain emissions standards, encouraging drivers to use vehicles that meet the requirements.
Modern, environmentally-efficient cars are allowed to enter the Ultra Low Emission Zones without having to pay a charge.
The policy also urges members of the public to think twice about how they travel, asking them to consider using public transport, or walking or cycling to their destinations.
At the end of July 2023, plans to expand the ULEZ were ruled lawful by the High Court.
The expansion was then put in place from August 29, 2023.
The money made from the ULEZ charge is being reinvested into making London's air cleaner and improving transport networks across the city.
Mr Blanchard also noticed the same car also appeared to have been confused with his own two days earlier after it was photographed driving in Mill Hill, North London.
TfL said Mr Blanchard’s car had been charged by mistake due to the correct vehicle’s number plate being slightly obscured when it was photographed by the camera.
A TfL spokesman said: “After a review of Mr Cooper’s case it is clear that the charge was issued in error.
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"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.”
