Reason for changing PCN to remove engine capacity / electric cart status
Request ID: FOI-1972-1920
Date published: 29 October 2019
You asked
Having recently received a penalty charge notice in my electric vehicle, I am keen to find out what actions you have put in place to ensure owners of electric vehicles know that they have to pay to enter the CC zone (and the associated spend, and how this compares to the amount of revenue from electric car payments and fines from electric vehicles that you receive (annually and in total). Also, if there has ever been a quote for an algorithm that can find out whether an electric car that you identifed in your PCN should have been omitted from a PCN. If not do you have an estimate for how much this would cost from your program team?
I also know that the old format PCN letters identified whether the offending car was an electric vehicle (or what the engine size was). As this is appropriate information for a CC / ULEZ charge, I want to find out if this had anything to do with complaints that you had received or is linked to income from electric vehicles - Are there any email correspondence that link to the income from electric vehicles being a factor in this decision. In a similar vein, I am keen to understand the targets set for fines and the budgeted income from fines, and how this would change if electric vehicles were automatically omitted from PCNs. Could you also send a example (doesn't need to be a real one for DP purposes) of the previous format that captured whether the car was electric or not (I have one of the current ones)
I am not only need this information to share my findings to interested parties, but also to make a case against you to force you to automatically recognise electric vehicles and omit them from your penalties, in a similar way to other existing government bodies.
We answered
TfL Ref: 1972-1920
Thank you for your request received by us on 1 October 2019 asking for information about the Congestion Charge scheme and Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs).
Following a member of our Congestion Charge Team speaking directly to you when seeking clarity in regards to the various matters raised, the following summaries of your correspondence have been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy since the remainder was addressed during the aforementioned conversation. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require:
- Why cant you makes changes to the system of issuing a PCN by using an algorithm that recognises the fuel type of the vehicle model info (on the PCN it says XX KWH if its electric)
- How much would it cost to make this change
The Congestion Charging Scheme Order outlines which vehicles are automatically exempt from the Congestion Charge and those which are 100% discounted. A copy of the Scheme Order is available here: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/consolidated-scheme-order-may2019.pdf
Electric vehicles are currently 100% discounted under the Cleaner Vehicle Discount (CVD) rather than exempt. The discount is subject to registration with TfL and the provision of evidence that the vehicle meets the criteria.
While we use information supplied by the DVLA to establish whether a vehicle qualifies for an automatic exemption by virtue of its taxation class, we do not have access to DVLA data for the purpose of obtaining a vehicle’s fuel type or for establishing if it is entitled to the CVD.
To make electric vehicles exempt based on their fuel type, rather than 100% discounted through the CVD, would require a change to the Scheme Order, which in turn would require us to conduct a public consultation. There are no plans to change the way the discount is administered and therefore we do not hold information around how much this would cost.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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
Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London
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