ULEZ penalty - worth challenging or not?
Discussion
Looking for advice. We travelled to London just before Christmas to collect a family member's dog we were looking after while they went away. Intended to pay ULEZ charge but with Christmas only days away forgot about it for about 4 days. I then tried to pay it online and realised I couldn't as they only give you 3 days to pay. I wrote to the charge authority saying I wanted to pay, had been in the zone and accepted my mistake. They wrote back saying there was no facility to pay outside 3 days and I would just have to wait for a penalty notice - none came so we thought we had escaped.
We then received a letter in February telling us that the we had failed to pay our fine in response to their penalty charge notice so the amount we owed had now risen to £240 which frankly is extortionate. I wrote a letter of appeal which they have investigated and dismissed and they have written again now in March basically saying unless we had a valid reason for not paying like being in hospital etc and can prove it then we owe £240.
My objections to this are two-fold:
1. I think it's unreasonable that when we contacted the authority outside the 3 day payment window and before a penalty notice had been issued they refused to accept payment
2. We never receieved the first penalty charge notice at which point I could have just paid them £50 or whatever and put it down to experience. Given they don't send these things by any form of registered post I fail to see how they can prove they sent it or we received it? Thus we were denied the opportunity to cap our losses at a more modest fee.
My question is if we should just pay up the £240 or if this is worth pursuing and letting them go to court over it. If we did that do we have a reasonable chance of winning?
Money is tight just now because thanks to illness I have been unable to work for 12 months. I am hoping to retunr to work in the next month or two.
Grateful for any advice,
Saxon
We then received a letter in February telling us that the we had failed to pay our fine in response to their penalty charge notice so the amount we owed had now risen to £240 which frankly is extortionate. I wrote a letter of appeal which they have investigated and dismissed and they have written again now in March basically saying unless we had a valid reason for not paying like being in hospital etc and can prove it then we owe £240.
My objections to this are two-fold:
1. I think it's unreasonable that when we contacted the authority outside the 3 day payment window and before a penalty notice had been issued they refused to accept payment
2. We never receieved the first penalty charge notice at which point I could have just paid them £50 or whatever and put it down to experience. Given they don't send these things by any form of registered post I fail to see how they can prove they sent it or we received it? Thus we were denied the opportunity to cap our losses at a more modest fee.
My question is if we should just pay up the £240 or if this is worth pursuing and letting them go to court over it. If we did that do we have a reasonable chance of winning?
Money is tight just now because thanks to illness I have been unable to work for 12 months. I am hoping to retunr to work in the next month or two.
Grateful for any advice,
Saxon
Thanks guys especially Qjumper - I'm heartened to hear of your experience and can only hope they 'lose my paperwork' too!! As you say you and I while technically in the wrong were actually trying to 'do the right thing' and the authorities just seem to love throwing their weight about over people who are inherently law abiding.
I think I will do as you say and let it go to a tribunal and see what they do. The mere fact they don't send out initial penalty notices via registered and tracked post is ridiculous if they intend it to be legally binding. The truth is they cannot prove they even sent the first notice so escalating the fines on the basis I never responded to a document I never received is just plain ridiculous!
Many thanks,
Saxon
I think I will do as you say and let it go to a tribunal and see what they do. The mere fact they don't send out initial penalty notices via registered and tracked post is ridiculous if they intend it to be legally binding. The truth is they cannot prove they even sent the first notice so escalating the fines on the basis I never responded to a document I never received is just plain ridiculous!
Many thanks,
Saxon
I'm very grateful to all of you for your help and advice - just an update in case it helps anyone in the future.
I picked up the phone and politely spoke to the ULEZ people and explained that I had never received the original penalty charge notice. She initially said she could reduce the amount owing from £240 to £160 but I went on to politely query if this is what I would have paid if I had responded promptly to it and suggested that had that happened I would have only had to pay £80.
She then agreed to reduce the penalty to the original £80 charge so I paid it.
I feel that was annoying but fair. At the end of the day their rule is to pay in 3 days or receive an £80 fine so given I didn't pay within 3 days I suppose that I therefore felt obliged to pay what was due. In any case it's a lot better than £240.
Saxon
I picked up the phone and politely spoke to the ULEZ people and explained that I had never received the original penalty charge notice. She initially said she could reduce the amount owing from £240 to £160 but I went on to politely query if this is what I would have paid if I had responded promptly to it and suggested that had that happened I would have only had to pay £80.
She then agreed to reduce the penalty to the original £80 charge so I paid it.
I feel that was annoying but fair. At the end of the day their rule is to pay in 3 days or receive an £80 fine so given I didn't pay within 3 days I suppose that I therefore felt obliged to pay what was due. In any case it's a lot better than £240.
Saxon
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