Congestion Charge fine for a BEV on Personal Contract Hire

[AbuHaneefah]

Hi All,

I wonder if anyone can help.

Just over a week ago I drove about 20 meters into the Congestion Charge zone with my NIssan LEAF.

I knew it was inside the Zone but I thought my car was exempt because it was a fully electric Vehicle.

I have since found out that it is only exempt if you register it and pay a fee.

I won't get the Penalty charge because it will go to the lease company.

Any ideas as to what I can do to avoid a big fine and lease admin charges?


Thanks in advance

[StevenB]

put your reg in here i've not heard of having to register unless the vehicle has been changed from oe spec which didn't comply and now does. Note it was free to do this

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicl...

[Durzel]

Unless I'm mistaken the Congestion Charge applies to all cars, BEVs included. It's the ULEZ charge that BEVs are exempt from.

The roads aren't any less congested because the car is electric, after all.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge...

[AbuHaneefah]

Durzel said:

Unless I'm mistaken the Congestion Charge applies to all cars, BEVs included. It's the ULEZ charge that BEVs are exempt from.

The roads aren't any less congested because the car is electric, after all.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge...

Technically you are correct, it applies but you get 100% discount, until 2025 at least.
However TFL can't work out that a Nissan LEAF is a Battery Electric Vehicle and you need to prove that you haven't taken the motor & batteries out and retrofitted it with a dirty old engine, so you need to register the vehicle and sent them a copy of the V5C.

See below

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge...

TFL said:

Cleaner vehicle discount
(Formerly Ultra Low Emission Discount (ULED))

Currently, only vehicles that meet Euro 6 standards (petrol and diesel), that emit no more than 75g/km of CO2 and have a minimum 20 mile zero emission capable range will qualify for the 100% cleaner vehicle discount.

From 25 October 2021, the cleaner vehicle discount will change so that only battery electric vehicles are eligible. Then from 25 December 2025, the cleaner vehicle discount will be discontinued. From this date, all vehicle owners, unless in receipt of another discount or exemption, will need to pay to enter the Congestion Charge zone during charging hours.

[Durzel]

AbuHaneefah said:

Durzel said:

Unless I'm mistaken the Congestion Charge applies to all cars, BEVs included. It's the ULEZ charge that BEVs are exempt from.

The roads aren't any less congested because the car is electric, after all.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge...

Technically you are correct, it applies but you get 100% discount, until 2025 at least.
However TFL can't work out that a Nissan LEAF is a Battery Electric Vehicle and you need to prove that you haven't taken the motor & batteries out and retrofitted it with a dirty old engine, so you need to register the vehicle and sent them a copy of the V5C.

See below

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge...

TFL said:

Cleaner vehicle discount
(Formerly Ultra Low Emission Discount (ULED))

Currently, only vehicles that meet Euro 6 standards (petrol and diesel), that emit no more than 75g/km of CO2 and have a minimum 20 mile zero emission capable range will qualify for the 100% cleaner vehicle discount.

From 25 October 2021, the cleaner vehicle discount will change so that only battery electric vehicles are eligible. Then from 25 December 2025, the cleaner vehicle discount will be discontinued. From this date, all vehicle owners, unless in receipt of another discount or exemption, will need to pay to enter the Congestion Charge zone during charging hours.

Consider me educated Hopefully you get this sorted out.

[AbuHaneefah]

StevenB said:

put your reg in here i've not heard of having to register unless the vehicle has been changed from oe spec which didn't comply and now does. Note it was free to do this

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/check-your-vehicl...

Thanks, this takes me to the LEZ and ULEZ which I am exempt from and somehow they are able to work this out automatically.
The congestion charge is a manual process where you have to send in the registration document copy to TFL and pay a £10 fee to register to get the 'Discount'.

[KevinCamaroSS]

AbuHaneefah said:

Hi All,

I won't get the Penalty charge because it will go to the lease company.


Thanks in advance

They will forward it to you, or, pay it and charge you.

[AbuHaneefah]

Thanks

Will I still get the chance to pay the discounted £80?

Edited by AbuHaneefah on Tuesday 4th August 13:30

[Chrisgr31]

AbuHaneefah said:

Thanks

Will I still get the chance to pay the discounted £80?

Edited by AbuHaneefah on Tuesday 4th August 13:30

When it happened to me years ago I didn’t get anything from the lease company until after the discount period has expired, and they wanted £50 admin charge for dealing with it.

I responded that whilst I was happy to pay the initial charge but they had had a couple of weeks to notify me, and therefore I didn’t want to pay the admin fee and would they like to contribute to the difference between the discount and full rate.

They responded writing off all moneys owed and paid the charge for me.

I believe quite a few lease companies pay the charges then claim it plus an admin fee from the driver. Saves issues if it never gets paid. So you might get the discount fee plus admin charge

[AbuHaneefah]

Thanks, if, I get that, I guess I will have to take it as an expensive lesson.
I did use Google to check if I had to pay a charge and none of the articles mentioned registering the vehicle with TFL in order to get the discount.
It's just another stealth tax or rather 'not being in the know' tax.
Had I parked the other side of the road, I wouldn't have had to pay anything.
I went about 20 meters into Alice Street SE1, I guess there is a chance the camera there isn't working.

[randlemarcus]

AbuHaneefah said:

Thanks, if, I get that, I guess I will have to take it as an expensive lesson.
I did use Google to check if I had to pay a charge and none of the articles mentioned registering the vehicle with TFL in order to get the discount.
It's just another stealth tax or rather 'not being in the know' tax.
Had I parked the other side of the road, I wouldn't have had to pay anything.
I went about 20 meters into Alice Street SE1, I guess there is a chance the camera there isn't working.

An expensive lesson is the best way to look at it. A "not being in the know" tax is perhaps best described as an ignorance tax, but that would be unkind.

Maybe get in touch with the lease company, explain the situation, and ask that if a ticket does come in for that car, to let you know asap? There's a small chance that by being proactive, they might (ha!) skip the admin fee

[T6 vanman]

AbuHaneefah said:

, I guess there is a chance the camera there isn't working.

[Mandat]

T6 vanman said:

AbuHaneefah said:

, I guess there is a chance the camera there isn't working.

That is a distinct possibility.

I have two cars registered for auto pay, and some trips into the zone don't get charged to my account. It doesn't happen often but it does happen.

[AbuHaneefah]

randlemarcus said:

An expensive lesson is the best way to look at it. A "not being in the know" tax is perhaps best described as an ignorance tax, but that would be unkind.

Maybe get in touch with the lease company, explain the situation, and ask that if a ticket does come in for that car, to let you know asap? There's a small chance that by being proactive, they might (ha!) skip the admin fee

I already contacted them this morning, they told me to email them and they would get back to me, but advised me that there was a backlog due to Covid19 and they might not get back to me for a couple of weeks.

That probably means I will miss the discount period and it turns out being £200+ for about 20 minutes parking!