Request ID: FOI-0405-2425 Date published: 20 May 2024
You asked
Dear Sir/Madam, I would like to make a request to Transport for London Ultra Low emission zone under the Freedom of Information Act regarding the following information.
1. I would like to know from what date letters were sent to registered keepers of vehicles that had passed through the new Ulez boundaries and had been picked up on cameras, these letters sent prior to the start of the Ulez boundary change, warning registered keepers that their vehicle may not meet the emissons requirements.
2. Were letters sent to all registered keepers of vehcles that may not meet the Ulez requirements that had passed Ulez cameras during the months prior to the start of the new Ulez boundaries ?
3. If letters were not sent to every registered keeper's vehicle that passed a Ulez camera, what
was the reason for this ?
4. There has been changes to how information is presented online when carrying out a Tfl Ulez vehicle compliance check. I refer to the on screen text as you go through the stages of entering the vehicle registration letters and numbers and when you have the chance to confirm you have entered the correct registration number or not. Originally the online screen showed the letters and numbers typed in, as the same format as a normal vehicle number plate on a vehicle, example DAO4WPO even when you typed it as 04 it showed it as O4 I would like to know the date of this change and the reason.
5. When checking a vehicle for compliance with Tfl Ulez online website and you type in an incorrect letter or number you are offered the choice to say this is the correct number, even when it clearly is not. If you do click that it is correct, it then states that this vehicle meets the Ulez requirements even though its not recognised on the Tfl Ulez system and may not meet the requirements. What is the purpose of this feature and what date did this begin ?
We answered
Our ref: FOI-0405-2425/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 3 May 2024 asking for information about Ulez system changes.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold some of the information you require.
1. I would like to know from what date letters were sent to registered keepers of vehicles that had passed through the new Ulez boundaries and had been picked up on cameras, these letters sent prior to the start of the Ulez boundary change, warning registered keepers that their vehicle may not meet the emissons requirements.
2. Were letters sent to all registered keepers of vehcles that may not meet the Ulez requirements that had passed Ulez cameras during the months prior to the start of the new Ulez boundaries ? 3. If letters were not sent to every registered keeper's vehicle that passed a Ulez camera, what was the reason for this? TfL issued 1,040,280 letters between February 2023 – July 2023 via the DVLA to the registered keepers of non-compliant vehicles identified driving within the forthcoming expansion area. We do not know how many of these letters are sent to car owners. Therefore the total volume of letters sent is not comparable to the total number of cars in the expanded area that are considered as not meeting the emissions standards. These letters are sent to the registered addresses for all non-compliant vehicles seen in the zone – not merely cars registered to Greater London addresses. Therefore registered keepers of non-compliant vehicles seen in the expanded zone but who live around the UK may receive a letter. The data for outer London (in November 2022) shows that 9 out of 10 cars seen driving on an average day meet the ULEZ emissions standards.
We wrote via the DVLA to the registered keepers of non-compliant cars, vans (up to and including 3.5 tonnes), motorcycles and other specialist vehicles such as motorised horse boxes (up to and including 5 tonnes) which have been seen being driven in the outer London area and which will form part of the expanded ULEZ from 29 August 2023. The letter provides information on the vehicle’s compliance status, the options available to vehicle owners including the scrappage scheme, grace periods and how the scheme operates including how to pay.
Letters were sent based on identifying non-compliant vehicle registration marks (VRMs), i.e. numberplates on vehicles, seen by our Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras whilst driving within the ULEZ expansion area 2 times or more between 1 December 2022 to 15 July 2023. We then de-duplicated the VRM captures against customers who are already registered with us on the Road User Charging database and if they were an existing customer with an email address then they were contacted by via email.
The letters formed part of a large-scale multi-channel information campaign to raise awareness and to encourage vehicle checking with messaging running on TV, video on demand, radio, local and pan-London press, national specialist press e.g. What Van and What Car, and national press, digital display, messaging on Waze, a wayfinding app, social, roadside posters and petrol pump nozzle advertising. Emails were also sent to customers registered to our database and leaflets were distributed via a door drop and face to face leafleting in high footfall locations such as high streets, in the outer boroughs. 4. There has been changes to how information is presented online when carrying out a Tfl Ulez vehicle compliance check. I refer to the on screen text as you go through the stages of entering the vehicle registration letters and numbers and when you have the chance to confirm you have entered the correct registration number or not. Originally the online screen showed the letters and numbers typed in, as the same format as a normal vehicle number plate on a vehicle, example DAO4WPO even when you typed it as 04 it showed it as O4 I would like to know the date of this change and the reason.
There have been no changes to the TfL ULEZ online compliance checker of this nature since April 2019.
5. When checking a vehicle for compliance with Tfl Ulez online website and you type in an incorrect letter or number you are offered the choice to say this is the correct number, even when it clearly is not. If you do click that it is correct, it then states that this vehicle meets the Ulez requirements even though its not recognised on the Tfl Ulez system and may not meet the requirements. What is the purpose of this feature and what date did this begin ?
When a vehicle number plate is entered into the ULEZ online compliance checker, there may be several reasons why we do not hold the compliance data and customers are made aware of this with the following message:
We do not hold details for this vehicle Check your number plate is correct. We're not sure this vehicle meets emissions standards. This could be because:
It's a new vehicle - these tend to meet emissions standards. However, older vehicles manufactured before 2006 (petrol) and 2017 (diesel) generally do not meet emissions standards
There's a recent change of number plate
It's been registered off the road (SORN)
We'll show you results for what you need to pay today based on your vehicle being considered new. If your vehicle is not new you may get different results - without notice - when our records are updated. You should check what you need to pay each time you travel.
The purpose of this feature is to allow customers the opportunity to check the number plate is correct and to inform them that we are providing information based on the vehicle being considered new. The checker and Pay to Drive will give customers a result based on the vehicle that the customer has entered. If a vehicle is inputted incorrectly, the checker will give compliance results on the number plate that has been inputted - results are for that current date only. The online compliance checker would not recognise whether or not the number plate was the intended registration the customer wanted to submit. The onus is on the motorist to ensure they check the number plate being entered is correct and check the ULEZ emissions standards which are clearly publicised.
The feature to input a registration even if it has been inputted incorrectly has been in place since April 2019.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
