Road User Charging

Road User Charging (RUC) is the collective term we use to describe the following schemes that operate in London:

• The Congestion Charge
• The Low Emission Zone (LEZ)
• The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ)
• The van and minibus scrappage scheme
• The ULEZ car and motorcycle scrappage schemes

TfL also enforces certain road traffic contraventions.

Personal information we hold

The personal information we hold will vary depending on your relationship with us.

For example, if you:

• have a RUC account
• have applied for a RUC discount or exemption
• have paid the daily charge for one of the RUC schemes
• have been issued with a Penalty Charge Notice
• have applied for one of the scrappage schemes

Information we hold may include:

• Title, name, address, email address, telephone number
• Date of birth
• Payment card details and/or bank account number and sort code
• Password/memorable information
• V5C document or overseas equivalent
• Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
• Vehicle Registration Marks (VRM)
• Date, time and location a vehicle has been captured by a camera
• Photographs or CCTV footage of your vehicle
• Transaction/payment history
• Proofs of eligibility for a discount or exemption
• Proofs of eligibility for the scrappage scheme
• Details of your TfL Private Hire Licence (where applicable)
• Correspondence, complaints and enquiries
• Call recordings
• Web chat transcripts

Legal basis for using your information

Under data protection legislation, TfL is only allowed to use personal information if we have a proper reason or 'legal basis' to do so. In the case of Road User Charging, there are a number of these 'legal grounds' we rely on, which are:

• Our statutory and public functions:
  • to undertake activities to promote and encourage safe, integrated, efficient and economic transport facilities and services, and to deliver the Mayor's Transport Strategy;
  • TfL has specific statutory powers to operate the various Road User Charging schemes in London which include administering the various daily charges as well as the issue and enforcement of Penalty Charge Notices;
  • TfL's use of ANPR cameras for the operation and enforcement of Road User Charging Schemes is also recognised under various statutory regulations.
• For the 'performance of a contract':
  • for example, where you have opened an account to register for a discount, use the Auto Pay service; or apply to the scrappage scheme or
  • you have downloaded the app so we can provide additional services to you
• Where you have given your consent to TfL:
  • for example where you have opted in to receive marketing messages from us or asked the contact centre to resolve an issue or complaint for you.

How we use your personal information

Roadside cameras

Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras operate 24 hours a day. They capture information whenever a vehicle travels within the Road User Charging zone. This includes an alpha-numeric 'read' of a Vehicle Registration Mark (VRM) and photographic (still) images of a vehicle.

Our IT system checks whether the appropriate road user charge is applicable and has been paid for that particular vehicle, or if it is eligible for a discount or exemption.

Once we have verified that no charge is applicable or the appropriate charge has been paid or a discount/exemption applies, the images are deleted. Please see our section on Police access to ANPR cameras further down this page for information on how the police use ANPR data and vehicle images.

If the charge remains unpaid, TfL will retain the VRM for enforcement purposes. We also retain photographic images from one location where the vehicle was seen, to prove entry into the relevant charging area and record the date and time your vehicle was seen. In the case of vehicles registered to an autopay service, VRMs and images are retained for the purposes of statement generation and account settlement.

Images of traffic contraventions are captured by operators using CCTV cameras, rather than ANPR.

RUC accounts

You will need to register with us and create an account if you wish to:

• Benefit from Auto Pay
• Apply for a RUC discount
• Apply for one of the vehicle scrappage schemes

You also need to register if you have a vehicle that is not listed by us as meeting LEZ or ULEZ emissions standards, but you can provide evidence that it does.

As a registered customer, we may also send you travel related information about Road User Charging schemes operating in London. This could include information about proposed changes to our road user charging schemes, updates on the level of charges or hours of operation, or changes to terms and conditions. We might also contact you about major events that could affect drivers, such as road closures and diversions.

You will be able to unsubscribe from any or all of these messages at any time.

We will only send you information about TfL's offers and promotions if you choose to receive it. You will be able to change your marketing preferences at any time.

We will not pass your personal information on to any other organisation for marketing purposes without your prior consent. In addition we do not sell or rent personal data to third parties for this purpose.

If you have authorised one or more additional users to be added to your online Road User Charging account, please be aware that they will have access to all information stored within the account, including details of vehicles, discounts, monthly statements and web chat transcripts.

Paying a daily charge

You don't need to be a registered customer to pay a daily charge for one of the RUC schemes. You can pay online and by phone without registering. If you pay this way, the only information we need is your payment card details and the VRM of the vehicle you're paying for.

You can choose whether to provide an email address or mobile phone number so we can send you a receipt. Once we have verified that the charge has been paid the images of the vehicle that has been paid for are deleted.

Enforcement - UK registered vehicles

If a vehicle is registered in the UK, and an applicable charge has not been paid, TfL will obtain the details of the registered keeper from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and then issue a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).

If you fail to pay your PCN (or your auto pay account balance), we may apply to the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton County Court to register the money owed as a debt, which allows us to take further steps to recover it. In order to do this we will share details of your PCN and other relevant information with them. We will send you a copy of the information at the same time.

If your PCN or auto pay balance continues to be unpaid, we may pass the unpaid debt to an enforcement agent to collect the money owed on TfL's behalf. As part of their activities, the enforcement agents may undertake certain checks to establish how likely it is they will be able to recover the debt from you. These are also known as 'propensity to pay' checks. They involve the enforcement agents matching/checking the data of the registered keeper of the vehicle (who is liable to pay the PCN) with external data sources, including address and phone number databases, social media activity and email addresses. The enforcement agency will retain its own records in respect of recovering the debt and the actions it has taken.

In cases where we have issued a PCN in relation to a hire vehicle, we may receive information from the hire company that demonstrates you were in possession of the vehicle on the date the contravention occurred, and are therefore liable to pay the PCN.

If you appeal against a PCN issued by TfL to the Environment and Traffic Adjudicators, or to the Road User Charging Adjudicators we will send them relevant information so that they can make their adjudication. We will send you a copy of this appeal pack at the same time.

TfL randomly selects and monitors vehicles benefitting from a road user charging discount or exemption, to identify possible fraud. If you persistently fail to pay any road user charges due or attempt to defraud TfL, we may record your vehicle's movements and use that data to support subsequent enforcement action.

If you hold a TfL Private Hire licence and you persistently fail to pay Penalty Charge Notices related to a private hire vehicle, we may share and validate the vehicle number plate, PCN and name and address details with the records that TfL's Taxi and Private hire department holds for you. This is for the purpose of enforcing our Road User Charging schemes, collecting unpaid PCN monies owed to us and to ensure your ongoing fitness to hold a private hire licence.

Address Tracing trial

From November 2024 we are undertaking a trial related to the way we issue PCNs to UK registered vehicles. In the event we do not receive a response to a PCN within 28 days (ie a payment or a representation), we may undertake further searches to ensure that we hold the correct address information for the registered keeper.

This involves using a 'Trace' service, provided by our existing supplier of back office services for road user charging. The Trace service checks other verifiable sources of address data alongside the DVLA database of registered keepers used to issue the initial PCN. These sources include credit reference agencies, the Electoral Roll, utilities and mobile phone providers, the BT Directory database (OSIS) and the Royal Mail Postcode Address File (PAF).  Where we find more up-to-date address information for the registered keeper, (and after taking steps to check its accuracy) we may reissue the PCN to that new address. These searches are for address information only and do not leave a 'footprint' on any external records or databases and do not affect your credit worthiness or credit rating in any way.
 

Enforcement - overseas registered vehicles

If a vehicle becomes liable for a PCN and is registered overseas, we will obtain details of the registered keeper from the relevant official national or regional Vehicle Licensing Authority (VLA). This process is undertaken on TfL's behalf by our service provider, Euro Parking Collections Ltd (EPC). They have different ways of retrieving the data necessary to issue the PCN and these include:

• Retrieving the registered keeper name and address directly from the relevant national VLA
• Retrieving the registered keeper name and address via individual 'National Contact Points' (NCPs) who can obtain the registered keeper information from the relevant VLA and supply it back to EPC. NCPs can include one VLA making a request to another, or legal representatives instructed by EPC to request the information.
• Retrieving the registered keeper name and address via 'local' debt collection agencies, who can request data from the relevant VLA on behalf of EPC.

Data relating to overseas registered vehicles obtained by EPC for the purpose of enforcing our Road User Charging schemes is not used by EPC for any other purpose.

Please note that in the case of enforcing the ULEZ, we currently hold limited information about overseas vehicles in our database of compliant vehicles, which is also used for our online vehicle checker. Overseas drivers intending to use their vehicle in London should first use the online vehicle checker to see if we hold details about its emissions compliance status, and then, if necessary, register their vehicle before they travel. This will help to avoid receiving a ULEZ PCN for a vehicle that meets the emissions standards.

Traffic monitoring

We also use our ANPR cameras and the VRMs captured for traffic monitoring and research.

This includes:

• Analysing the types of vehicles on London's roads
• Analysing numbers of vehicles on London's roads
• Measuring levels of vehicle compliance with emissions standards
• Measuring average journey times to assess levels of congestion on key routes
• Monitoring the impact of specific roadworks on journey times

When doing this, we replace the VRM with an alternative set of letters and numbers. This is called 'pseudonymisation' and is a way of distinguishing vehicles in a dataset by using a unique identifier that does not reveal its 'real world' identity. This is a way of protecting people's privacy in line with the Information Commissioner's Anonymisation Code of Practice.

Length of time we keep information

• Details of each charge payment: 24 months from the date of the transaction (regardless of whether or not you are a registered customer)
• Vehicle images are automatically deleted a maximum of 30 days after payment of the charge has been received and verified or when we have verified that your vehicle is registered for a discount or exemption, or it is otherwise compliant with scheme requirements (eg your vehicle is known to meet the ULEZ emission standards).
• For Autopay customers, ANPR data and images are retained until after the account has been settled, usually a maximum period of 120 days
• Details of a discount are retained for 24 months after the date the discount expires
• Details of a PCN are retained for seven years after you paid the PCN (this will include images of the vehicle you were driving)
• Details of a successful scrappage scheme application are retained for up to 10 years (in line with State Aid rules). Unsuccessful applications are retained for 2 years
• Recordings of telephone calls made to our Road User Charging contact centre are retained for 90 days from the date of the call
• Web chat transcripts are retained for 90 days from the date the online chat took place

We retain your personal information for these time periods for the following reasons:

• To respond to correspondence, concerns or complaints
• To maintain records according to rules that apply to us (for example financial regulations)
• To establish and defend any legal rights

Keeping personal information secure

We take the privacy of our customers very seriously, and a range of robust policies, processes and technical measures are in place to control and safeguard access to, and use of, personal information associated with Road User Charging schemes. This includes payment card data which is handled in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard ('PCI DSS').

Find out how to protect your personal information.

Automated processing and profiling

Under data protection legislation we have to let you know when we do something 'automatically' using our computers or other systems, or make an automated decision (without human intervention) that significantly affects you.

When you drive within the Congestion Charge Zone, Ultra Low Emission Zone or Low Emission Zone, your vehicle's VRM is automatically captured by the road side cameras as described above.

The level and type of charge is automatically determined using details of the vehicle, as provided by the relevant vehicle licensing agency and/or by the customer.

Details of the registered keeper are also automatically retrieved from the DVLA (or overseas licensing agency) so that a PCN can be issued.

Before any PCN is processed, the details captured by the camera are manually checked by an individual. This check requires the operator to validate the VRM being used for the PCN against the vehicle images captured by the camera and cross referencing against the vehicle make, model and colour details. Each potential PCN is also checked by a second individual. If the two individuals do not agree then the case is escalated to a supervisor for a final decision.

Sharing your information

TfL has contracts with a number of third party service providers, which provide the majority of the administration and 'back office' services that ensure the efficient day-to-day operation of the Road User Charging schemes and the scrappage scheme. This includes the customer database, the installation and maintenance of the cameras, the secure IT connection to the DVLA and debt recovery services within the UK and overseas.

Different departments within TfL share information to help ensure compliance with our Road User Charging schemes - as well to monitor the effectiveness of the different schemes.

This includes details of vehicles and drivers licensed for private hire by TfL which may have accrued unpaid PCNs. This helps us ensure we have the correct address details for the registered keeper. Unpaid PCNs may also be a breach of private hire licensing conditions.

As well as our own 'in house' traffic monitoring, we sometimes work with external research companies. We ensure that research is carried out in accordance with privacy and data protection legislation and is protected by robust confidentiality agreements.

If you have a query about your account, a service for which you have registered, or a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) you have received and would like a third party to contact us on your behalf, we will generally only deal with them with your written permission or if you have authorised them as an additional user on your online Road User Charging account. 

If you make an application to one of our vehicle scrappage schemes we may share or request information about you from other local authorities or organisations in order to verify your eligibility to receive a payment.

If you wish to register your vehicle as being compliant with the standards for ULEZ, we may check or verify the emissions standards of your vehicle with the relevant manufacturer on a case by case basis. This may be done by using the Vehicle Registration Mark or Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

In addition to the real-time access described below by which the MPS has to TfL's ANPR cameras, we may, at our discretion, disclose personal data in response to valid requests from the police. Before we authorise any disclosure the police have to demonstrate that the personal data concerned will assist them in the prevention or detection of a specific crime, or in the apprehension or prosecution of an offender. Each request from the police is dealt with on a strictly case-by-case basis to ensure that any such disclosure is lawful and in accordance with data protection legislation. These requests may ask for the disclosure of images captured by our ANPR cameras or for data and images from cameras installed for the expansion of ULEZ in 2021, neither of which form part of the data to which the MPS currently has real-time access (see further below).

Overseas processing

TfL and its service providers process personal information relating to Road User Charging within the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA). Any such processing will be carried out by TfL and its service providers in accordance with UK privacy legislation and the appropriate contractual safeguards which TfL has put in place.

Some of our testing activities take place by permitting our suppliers to have remote access to specific data used for this purpose from off shore locations. These include Argentina, India and Israel. Any such access is managed in accordance with contractual obligations and UK data protection legislation.

Police access to ANPR cameras

In 2012, one of the then Mayor of London's commitments was to instruct TfL to give the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) direct real time access to the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras we use to enforce our Road User Charging schemes, for the purposes of preventing and detecting crime. Following a public consultation, the MPS was given access to this data in 2015. A Mayoral Delegation (MD) was granted to TfL so that we had the powers to provide access. In effect, this means that TfL and the MPS share the vehicle number plate data feed from the network of Road User Charging cameras which TfL operated at that time.

This was an expansion of a pre-existing arrangement with the MPS established in 2007, under which they were given access to TfL's ANPR data specifically for the purpose of using it to safeguard national security. This arrangement was approved by the then Home Secretary, who signed a certificate confirming that TfL, and the MPS, are exempt from certain provisions of data protection legislation for that purpose.

In light of TfL's expansion of the ULEZ to the boundaries of the North and South Circular roads in 2021, TfL entered into discussions with the MPS on granting access to those additional cameras installed for the expansion, for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime. An updated MD was signed by the Mayor of London in May 2022 in order to enable this. The Mayoral Delegation also:

• Enables the MPS to receive a feed of still photographic images of vehicles captured by the ANPR cameras that the MPS was already receiving the vehicle number plate data feed from (no images were transferred before this MD was issued)
• And, in principle, allows future ANPR cameras installed by TfL for specified road user charging schemes to come within scope of the sharing arrangement (subject to the MPS completing appropriate strategic assessments to demonstrate that access to any or all additional cameras is proportionate and necessary, and compliance with data protection, and equalities obligations).

The MPS has completed an initial Data Protection Impact Assessment and Equality Impact Assessment and undertaken a number of public engagement activities.  

In exceptional circumstances or to ensure the security of high risk events, TfL may also allow MPS access to vehicle image data from specified ANPR cameras, where the MPS is able to demonstrate that there is a need for the purpose of policing such incidents or safeguarding such events.

Learn more about how the MPS uses ANPR cameras.

Mobile app

If you download and use the Road User Charging mobile app, certain information may be collected automatically, such as the type of mobile device you are using and unique identifier such as the device name or ID, Internet Protocol (IP) address, Media Access Control (MAC) address, and IMEI number.

We also use analytics (which is similar to cookies on websites) which are small files that capture anonymous data to help us improve the app's performance. We use them to collect information about your use of the app, such as what app content you access most frequently, or if you receive an error message when using the app.

If you opt in, we will also send you notifications via the app, or use location services to provide you with relevant information about your use of the scheme. You can change your mind at any time by amending the settings within your device

Testing, research and development

From time to time we may use certain personal data in order to help us test the performance and capacity of our infrastructure, investigate new technologies and to research and develop more accurate or more efficient ways of implementing road user charging and the administrative processes that support it. This, in turn, supports our statutory function to provide efficient and economic transport facilities and services, and to deliver the Mayor's Transport Strategy.

Wherever we can, we will use pseudonymised or 'dummy' data but sometimes, when there is no other alternative, we need to use 'real life' personal data as well as VRMs that have been captured by our network of ANPR cameras. When we undertake such activities, we take great care to ensure that we use the minimum data possible. Data used for a testing, research or development purpose will not be used to take, or inform, decisions affecting individuals.

On some occasions we might have to keep VRM data for a longer period than we would normally for the operation of our road user charging schemes. When that is the case, we will ensure that the data cannot be used for any other purpose other than for testing, research and development and that it is stored securely with restricted access. 

We will also ensure that we complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment when we use need to use personal data for research and development purposes and will publish these where possible.