ULEZ No. of people who have been fined for paying the ULEZ charge on wrong date
Request ID: FOI-0205-2223 Date published: 27 May 2022
You asked
I am interested to learn how many people have been fined for paying the ULEZ charge within the required three day period but omitted to change the pay date on the website to the travel date. A 12 month period prior to todays date would be sufficient data.
Clarification received 06/05/2022: The detail I seek to ascertain is the number of instances motorists have been fine for inadvertently
omitting to enter the 'date of travel ' within the ULEZ - assuming that TFL would have this detail on file.
The date of payment of the charge is assumed by TFL to be the date of travel and therefore a fine is issued
if the motorist inadvertently pays the charge without specifying the date of travel
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0205-2223
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 28th April 2022 - clarified on 6th May 2022 - asking for information about ULEZ charges.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“I am interested to learn how many people have been fined for paying the ULEZ charge within the required three day period but omitted to change the pay date on the website to the travel date. A 12 month period prior to todays date would be sufficient data.”
This was clarified as follows:
“The detail I seek to ascertain is the number of instances motorists have been fine for inadvertently omitting to enter the 'date of travel ' within the ULEZ - assuming that TFL would have this detail on file. The date of payment of the charge is assumed by TFL to be the date of travel and therefore a fine is issued if the motorist inadvertently pays the charge without specifying the date of travel.”
I am afraid that TfL does not hold the requested information. When a motorist accesses our online system to pay the ULEZ charge it is they as the payee who is required to enter the vehicle registration and the date of the journey for which the charge is being paid. Once this is entered the payee is required to verify the details are correct and to tick a box confirming they are paying for the correct vehicle and date of travel. As paying on the day of the journey is the most common online payment the date of travel initially defaults to the current day. However, this is easily amended by the payee and there is a two-step verification process prior to the payment being made.
It is not possible to make a payment for the ULEZ without specifying a date of travel and therefore we do not hold information on the number of penalties issued when the date of travel has not been entered. Further, when we issue a Penalty Charge Notice no we do not know the reason why the charge has not been purchased or whether it was a result of the payee failing to amend the date of travel from the current day. Therefore we do not hold information on how many PCNs have been issued for this reason. However, note that when a motorist receives a penalty they do have a right to challenge the penalty by submitting a representation to us (see here for more details: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/red-routes/penalty-charge-notices/make-a-representation). We have specific business rules in place which allows for a penalty to be cancelled if it is shown that the motorist inadvertently paid the charge but did so for the wrong date of travel.
If you have any outstanding issues regarding a penalty you received when payment was made for the wrong date you may raise this with our Road User Charging team by email at:
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
