With respect and as part of the freedom of information request, I would like to have further information on the justification of the late representation charges which is an increase of £130 from the original fine. To this end again as part of the freedom of information act I would like to request information on all waivers of the charge which have been issued and successfully appealed in the last 5 years and the criteria under which mitigating circumstances are considered and upheld. If this is based on each individual case I would like to request copies of these.

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Our ref: FOI-3007-1718/GH

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 15 January 2018 asking for information about Congestion Charging.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.

With respect and as part of the freedom of information request, I would like to have further information on the justification of the late representation charges which is an increase of £130 from the original fine. I will not profess to have any knowledge or understanding into the management and cost of running the Congestion Charging operation but would as a resident of the city, would like to know if resident are being treated fairly with regards to these charges if they are faced with case as I have at present.

TfL’s enforcement of the Congestion Charging Scheme is a strictly defined legal procedure which applies to all drivers, including residents. We issue and enforce Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for non-payment of the Congestion Charge in accordance with the statutory timescales laid out within the legislation governing the scheme, which sets out the following:

• A PCN must be paid or challenged within 28 days beginning with the date on which it is served, however a 50% discount applies if the PCN is paid within 14 days of the date of service.

   

• If the PCN is not paid or challenged within 28 days of service, TfL may issue a charge certificate increasing the original amount of the PCN by 50%.

Further information about the enforcement process is available on our website at https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge/penalties-and-enforcement/enforcement-process.

To this end again as part of the freedom of information act I would like to request information on all waivers of the charge which have been issued and successfully appealed in the last 5 years and

Information about all appeals against PCNs issued in London is entered on a statutory register, available on the London Tribunals website: http://www.londontribunals.gov.uk/.

the criteria under which mitigating circumstances are considered and upheld.

As the authority responsible for enforcing the Congestion Charge, we have the discretion to cancel a PCN for any reason, including mitigation. Information about the types of scenarios in which we might consider cancelling a PCN for discretionary reasons is published on our website: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/eops-schedule2-appendix9-tfl-business-rules.pdf

If this is based on each individual case I would like to request copies of these.

In the last 5 financial years, we have issued more that 4.2million PCNs for non-payment of the Congestion Charge and approximately 150,000 of those have been cancelled for discretionary reasons. To provide you with copies of these would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with requests if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. In this instance, we estimate that the time required to answer your request would exceed 18 hours which, at £25 per hour (the rate stipulated by the Regulations), exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’.

In addition, much of the correspondence on these cases contains private and confidential information which would be subject to DPA restrictions.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

If you are not satisfied with this response 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

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