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HOWARD COX
How sneaky, greedy councils are cynically fleecing motorists – with one yellow box generating £2.7m in fines in ONE YEAR
In the last ten years, council coffers have been swollen with £38.5 billion taken from motorists
NEWS that councils have instructed bailiffs to collect four million motoring fines is proof that the war on drivers has been revved up.
It’s a situation that reeks of unfairness.
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Car owners like you and me are being ruthlessly bullied by local authorities — all in the name of an easy cash grab.
More than 18million penalty charge notices — PCNs — were dispensed in 2023.
That’s up 18 per cent outside London since 2018.
Ten years ago, more than eight out of ten PCNs were for parking offences.
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The figure dropped to just under half that in 2022, with 19 per cent being penalised for failing to pay road tolls and almost one in ten for violating clean air zones.
As of this April, an astonishing 1,348,938 Ulez expansion fines have been issued in London since the new zone came into effect on August 29 last year.
But 974,590 remained unpaid, figures from two months ago show, meaning at least £87,713,100 is outstanding.
The Mayor’s Office which oversees Transport for London, says revenue from Ulez is reinvested into improving the capital’s transport network, like expanding bus routes in outer London.
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But I see little evidence that these promises have been delivered.
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Councils are trying to rake in more money and appear to keep coming up with new and more cunning ways of penalising drivers.
My FairFuelUK campaign inbox is inundated with stories of drivers who have never broken the law but are now facing threatening letters, court appearances and legal costs.
Made to catch more drivers out
They have been accused of minor infractions such as parking for too long in the wrong location, or exceeding the speed limit by a negligible amount.
These motorists, going about their daily lives, are now burdened with congestion charges, Ulez fines, tolls and ineffective speed limits. A yellow box in Hammersmith, West London, earned an astonishing £2.7million a year from penalties, even though the RAC claims the hatched area has been deliberately made too big to catch more drivers.
While another yellow box, in Bromley, South East London, has brought in up to £1million in penalty charges.
Cameras in a bus lane in Brighton, East Sussex, made £1.8million in nine months.
And a bus gate in Aberdeen brought in £3million in charges — but there are claims it has driven away half a million would-be visitors to the city.
I have personally experienced these charges. I have just paid out £100 to get three penalty points on my previously spotless driving record.
The financial strain on motorists caught in these ‘traps’ is an unacceptable burden they should not have to bear
My crime? Speeding along a dual-carriageway that, for all the many years I have driven along this road, has always been set at 50mph.
It has now — for no known reason — been reduced to 40mph.
Yes, I broke the law, but I was unaware of this speed limit modification until I was in the middle of it.
How many others have been caught out by such unnecessary but dedicated cash-grabbing changes?
And what will that dictatorial local authority or the police use my hard-earned “ton” for? Answers on a postcard, please.
Unacceptable burden
Other drivers tell me how they have been hit with penalties for driving on roads, like the A406 from Ilford to Tottenham where, in the space of half a mile, the speed limit toggles between 40 and 50, all under the watchful eye of those wretched average speed checks.
The financial strain on motorists caught in these “traps” is an unacceptable burden they should not have to bear, though the councils deny it is about making money.
Many drivers who argue they are unaware of new zones or confused by new rules or poor signage are threatened with debt collectors who can seize their cars until the penalty is paid — along with a hefty bailiff’s fee.
The march to Net Zero is pushing us all to use public transport, even where these taxpayer-subsidised less-than-safe-to-travel buses or train choices are woefully inadequate, unreliable and uncomfortable
Thousands of vehicles are being sold off when drivers refuse to pay.
Incredibly, some bailiffs accuse motorists of being increasingly “selfish” because they feel free to ignore the law.
Of course, we would accept these penalties if we had the best road network in the world, with no potholes and a brilliant public transport system.
But alas, this ill-gotten money disappears into deep, bottomless voids, keeping local councils afloat financially to inflict yet more expensive woke stupidity and diversity projects on us all.
With a change in administration at No10, I worry that the political pendulum has now fully swung towards stopping us from using our precious, essential vehicles.
The march to Net Zero is pushing us all to use public transport, even where these taxpayer-subsidised buses or train choices are woefully inadequate, unreliable and uncomfortable. I want to see the Government supporting sensible road-user policies that encourage fluid travel movement and accessible parking.
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This will in turn stimulate local economies and help white van sole traders and motorists who have no choice but to use their cars for work or to attend medical appointments.
I’m sure I speak for many of the UK’s 37million motorists when I say that if we want to get Britain moving in the right direction we should put the brakes on this egregious war on motorists.
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