Request ID: FOI-0643-2324 Date published: 27 June 2023
You asked
How much does it cost to send a failed to pay fix penalty notice per person.
And how is this broken down.
Clarification received 06/06/2023: I refer to the charge for forgetting to pay for the ULEZ within the very short window of opportunity.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0643-2324
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 29th May 2023 asking for the cost of sending a Penalty Charge Notice.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“How much does it cost to send a failed to pay fix penalty notice per person.
And how is this broken down.”.
On 6th June 2023 you clarified the request as follows:
“I refer to the charge for forgetting to pay for the ULEZ within the very short window of opportunity.”
I am afraid that TfL does not hold the requested information. This is because there are numerous steps involved in identifying a contravention and issuing a PCN. We do not record the specific cost per penalty. Further, there is no way of distinguishing the specific costs involved in administering ULEZ PCNs from our other Road User Charging schemes such as the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and the Congestion Charge. As an example, the initial identification of the contravening vehicle involves the use of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, some of which are also used for the LEZ and Congestion Charge. We are not able to identify the specific cost of that element of the process solely for ULEZ PCNs (and, furthermore, there would be no way of calculating the cost for an individual PCN). Similarly, we post out ULEZ, LEZ and Congestion Charge PCNs as well as the PCNs for other contraventions on our road network (such as illegal parking, banned turns, wrongly entering yellow box junctions) and the costs of this are not recorded just for ULEZ PCNs.
Note that we do publish the overall running costs for ULEZ - see page 140 of the last statement of accounts that can be found on our website here: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-annual-report-and-statement-of-accounts-2021-22.pdf - this shows both ULEZ income and running costs. 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
