Have you picked up a ULEZ fine? Here’s how you can challenge it – and you have a one in three chance of winning

Thousands of motorists are unaware that they can appeal punitive new fines introduced by London Mayor Sadiq Khan on vehicles that do not meet his new environmental standards – if they have been issued wrongly.

Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) operates 24 hours a day and is designed to improve London’s air quality by discouraging drivers of older and more polluting vehicles from coming into the capital.

Transport for London (TfL) collected £73 million in fines from drivers entering Ulez last year. And now the zone includes all 32 boroughs and the City of London, the Mayor of London is issuing demands for more than £700,000 in Ulez fines each day. 

Drivers who are caught in the zone without paying the £12.50 charge will be slapped with a penalty charge notice (PCN) of £180, which falls to £90 if paid within 14 days.

However, drivers who appeal these hefty fines have a one in three chance of winning, according to penalty adjudicator London Tribunals.

Appeal: Paul Farrant won his case after being issued with six penalties despite paying

The most common reason a fine was overturned was because the motorist should not have been charged in the first place, London Tribunals says.

In 2020/21, almost two fifths of 11,597 closed congestion zone and Ulez appeals were upheld.

‘You have 28 days from the date you receive a penalty charge notice to appeal. You should start by contacting Transport for London by phone or through its website,’ says Scott Dixon, consumer champion at The Complaints Resolver.

‘If your appeal is rejected then you can appeal to the Road User Charging Adjudicators (RUCA), which are part of London Tribunals.’

Meanwhile, around five per cent of drivers were issued with fines despite already having paid the charge, it says.

Among them was Paul Farrant, 60, who successfully appealed to London Tribunals this year after receiving penalty charge notices totalling more than £1,000.

In March, the father of two set up a direct debit to pay Ulez charge for his beloved Bentley.

Paul had entered his registration number and card details into the TfL website and selected autopay, which would debit his account by £12.50 every time he drove his car into the emission zone.

A week later Paul, a former businessman, received a letter demanding £180 for unpaid charges. In the coming days, five more notices followed and TfL began chasing him for more than £1,080.

‘When the first letter came through the door I was shocked as I thought autopay had been set up. I was always happy to pay the £12.50 charge, which is why I set up an account in the first place,’ he says.

In August, Paul took his case to London Tribunals, where he used a screenshot to prove that he had registered for the service – which gave him grounds to appeal. The adjudicator ruled in his favour and the charges were later dismissed.Paul says: ‘If I had not taken a screenshot showing that I had registered for the service then I would not have won as I would have had no proof. The fines were not fair as I made every attempt to register for the service in the first place.

‘Lots of drivers could be caught up in this system and will end up paying the fines, even if they’re not at fault, as they don’t know how to appeal.’

There are three things TfL needs to prove in order to issue you with a Ulez fine, says Nick Freeman, a lawyer at Freeman & Co Solicitors. 

‘TfL must prove that your vehicle is not compliant with the new rules; it is inside a Ulez zone; and the signage is clear enough to show you that you need to pay for a fine to be upheld,’ he says. 

Make sure to bring any evidence to show that you paid the charge, your vehicle is compliant with the new rules or the signage was not clear when you got to court. 

Ken Little, 68, was fined £180 after accidentally driving into the Ulez zone after going to a performance in London. The retired business owner and his wife Janet, 64, had borrowed their daughter’s Audi A3 to drive from their home in Whitstable, Kent, to the Royal Albert Hall to see Cirque du Soleil for Ken’s birthday.

But despite thinking they had registered to pay the Ulez charge, the couple received a £180 bill a week later. ‘We took out insurance for our daughter’s car for the day and had paid the Ulez charge at the same time as it’s just not worth taking the risk,’ Ken says.

‘A few days later we received a bill from TfL. It was so annoying to get the letter as we did everything we could to pay the charge.’

The couple appealed to London Tribunals, which agreed that they had been fined unfairly and dismissed the case. Ken says: ‘We used to go into London a lot but Ulez has put us off. It’s just too complicated to know when you are in the zone or how much you should pay.’

A TfL spokesman says drivers can challenge a penalty they believe is unfair through an appeals process which includes the chance to have their case heard by an independent adjudicator. 

‘Of the Congestion Charge and Ulez cases that an adjudicator has considered at a hearing since the clean air zone was introduced in 2019, 90 per cent have been ruled in TfL’s favour.’ he says.’

If you want to appeal a Penalty Charge Notice, visit tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/ulez-payments or call 0343 222 2222.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk