Our Ref: FOI-2250-2425
Thank you for your request received on 17 October 2024 asking for information about Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) penalty charge notice (PCN) evasion.
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.
When we issue a PCN the recipient has 14 days to make payment at the reduced rate of £90 or 28 days to pay at the full rate of £180. There is also a right of representation to challenge the penalty. If the penalty remains outstanding, we issue a Charge Certificate, followed by an Order for Recovery. It is only after the issuing of at least three notices that a warrant is issued to our contracted Enforcement Agents.
On receipt of a warrant our Enforcement Agents will send at least two letters prior to visiting a property or removing a vehicle.
When a PCN is issued, it is sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle as held by the DVLA. This does not always indicate that the driver of the vehicle resides at that address. The most common example of this is when a vehicle is registered to a hire company in London, but the driver may be from a different location.
Between August 2023 and July 2024:
- How many vehicles were seized and removed for a driver failing to pay a ULEZ PCN for a vehicle registered to an address in each London borough? (To be clear, I am requesting the data to be broken down by borough e.g. Bromley - 10 registered cars seized etc)
We do not hold this information. This action is carried out by our contracted Enforcement Agents rather than TfL and we do not record how many vehicles are removed. Whilst some information was collated after being provided by our enforcement agents for the purposes of the following press release (https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2024/october/tfl-steps-up-enforcement-against-persistent-ulez-penalty-charge-evaders) this isn’t information that is routinely reported to us or held on our behalf. To confirm, we were not provided with the information contained within the press release broken down into the format you have requested and so we do not hold this information.
- How many seized vehicles were auctioned and how much money was made from these sales, broken down by London borough?
As above we do not hold this information.
- How many ULEZ PCNs were issued to vehicles registered in each London borough?
- How many of these ULEZ PCNs required enforcement action, broken down by each London borough?
The attached spreadsheet details the number of ULEZ penalties issued to vehicles registered in each London borough, along with the number of these penalties which have been subject to warrants. This is for penalties issued for journeys between 1 August 2023 and 31 July 2024.
To put the information into context we have also included the number of unique vehicles which have incurred the PCNs and warrants.
Please let me know if this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Gemma Jacob
Senior FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
