Request ID: FOI-3422-2223 Date published: 29 March 2023
You asked
Can you tell me how many vehicles that meet all of the following criteria, have been charged for entering ULEZ zone?
Ford Focus, 1.6L/ 1560cc TDCI 6 speed manual, 115bhp Vehicle registered from 02/08/2013-01/09/2015
The reason I ask is because the certificate of conformity for this particular vehicle shows it is compliant with Euro6 emission standards however TFL thinks it has euro 5 emissions
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-3422-2223
Thank you for your request which we received on 18 March 2023, asking about Ford Focus vehicles’ compliance with the ULEZ.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.
By way of background, in order to establish whether a vehicle is compliant with the ULEZ emission standards we predominantly use the vehicle data held by the DVLA. In most cases we can establish a vehicle’s compliance status by the date it was first registered as new. Using the data provided by the DVLA we have developed a compliance database which lists the compliance status of most UK registered vehicles. This is not a live link to the DVLA data, it is a static list of vehicles which is refreshed with new updated DVLA data every month.
We acknowledge that the information held by the DVLA may not always allow us to establish whether a vehicle is compliant, not least because there is no requirement for them to record a vehicle’s emissions. We have therefore supplemented the data with information from vehicle manufacturers and the Vehicle Certification Agency.
This database links into our ULEZ compliance checker, which is an online tool which allows motorists to check the compliance status of their vehicles to establish if the ULEZ charge is payable.
If a motorist believes that the status of their vehicle is incorrect they can contact us through our enquiry service. This allows a motorist to provide evidence that their vehicle meets the emission standards and, once verified, we will update our records and mark a vehicle compliant. Such evidence can include a Certificate of Conformity. A Certificate of Conformity is specific to the vehicle for which it has been issued. Given that there may be differences between the technical characteristics/specifications of vehicles of the same make, model and variant, we cannot assume that all of these vehicles meet the same emissions standard. For this reason, we cannot use a Certificate of Conformity for a specific vehicle to cover all vehicles of the same make and model or year of manufacture.
In respect of your request for information; unfortunately we do not hold the information you have requested. When a vehicle is listed on Auto Pay, which generates the ULEZ charges, or when a payment is made using other channels, we don’t record the date a vehicle was first registered and therefore wouldn’t hold this information. However we do have built in safeguards in our systems which means we do not accept ULEZ charge payments for vehicles which are listed as being compliant. If you would like further advice relating to a specific vehicle and its compliance status, please email us at [email protected] and our Road User Charging colleagues will look into it for you.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
