Discussion
Hi PHer's I've been working in London Last week I asked the wife to go online to pay the Ulez scam so she went online and paid the congestion charge instead of Ulez so she rang tfl to explain the mistake but computer says NO.
But when you type in pay ulez and get on their website the first charge that comes up is congestion surely that's misleading.
we're now looking at a £450 fine for the week + £75 for the congestion charge because of a genuine mistake
But when you type in pay ulez and get on their website the first charge that comes up is congestion surely that's misleading.
we're now looking at a £450 fine for the week + £75 for the congestion charge because of a genuine mistake
fredhead said:
Hi PHer's I've been working in London Last week I asked the wife to go online to pay the Ulez scam so she went online and paid the congestion charge instead of Ulez so she rang tfl to explain the mistake but computer says NO.
But when you type in pay ulez and get on their website the first charge that comes up is congestion surely that's misleading.
we're now looking at a £450 fine for the week + £75 for the congestion charge because of a genuine mistake
Ulez isn’t a scamBut when you type in pay ulez and get on their website the first charge that comes up is congestion surely that's misleading.
we're now looking at a £450 fine for the week + £75 for the congestion charge because of a genuine mistake
James6112 said:
Ulez isn’t a scam
Oh yes it is. Air quality has not changed in outer London in the first 11 months of operation so the clean air justification falls. Congestion has increased on most of the main roads on the very edge of the expanded zone, which includes a number of roads inside Greater London. This is now regularly delaying bus journeys, often significantly, so the incentive to use public transport justification fails. Khan did it to raise money and to put 2 fingers up to the last Government in the fight over TfL funding as it affected more (at the time) tory constituencies than any other. B235r said:
James6112 said:
Ulez isn’t a scam
Yeah it's a scam
https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/en...
If the thread just collapses into another argument over whether ULEZ is a scam or not and what constitutes a scam, the OP isn't going to be any wiser.
I didn't realise the website was so easy to misnavigate.
A friend of mine with suffering some temporary mental difficulties made a similar mistake and I thought it was just them.
I feel there should be some way to appeal in situations like this but it appears there isn't.
A better way to have done this would be to send a reminder of the charge together with say an admin fee that was less than the £90 charged currently. £90 seems very unfair but that's just my view on what is reasonable.
I didn't realise the website was so easy to misnavigate.
A friend of mine with suffering some temporary mental difficulties made a similar mistake and I thought it was just them.
I feel there should be some way to appeal in situations like this but it appears there isn't.
A better way to have done this would be to send a reminder of the charge together with say an admin fee that was less than the £90 charged currently. £90 seems very unfair but that's just my view on what is reasonable.
giantdefy said:
A report written by the Mayor's office to justify the Mayor's pet scam. That's clearly going to be objective. There is a catalogue of misleading reports from the Mayor's office on many issues such as house building, public safety and crime, air quality on London Underground, Elizabeth line costs, policing etc etc and all are demonstrably playing fast and loose with the facts to try and make Khan look less incompetent than he is. This will be no differentAlso, if it's not a scam then why is it so badly signed and difficult to establish which roads are inside the zone and which are outside? The signage is sparse and small. If the idea was to keep so called polluting vehicles out of the zone then the boundaries would be clear and obvious and well signed. Instead the signage is the exact opposite. That must absolutely be a deliberate decision and the obvious conclusion is that it's designed to catch people straying into the zone by mistake. As the OP says the website is misleading, that must be deliberate too.
OP your first mistake was driving into London, just refuse any jobs or get the train. Your second mistake was asking your wife to pay it.
You can enrol your vehicle into the 'Auto Pay' scheme, once registered the charges will automatically be paid from your account.
Unfortunately it is your/you're wife's mistake, you'll have to suck it up.
This was my first hit from a search
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emissio...
You can enrol your vehicle into the 'Auto Pay' scheme, once registered the charges will automatically be paid from your account.
Unfortunately it is your/you're wife's mistake, you'll have to suck it up.
Edited by megaphone on Thursday 1st August 08:01
This was my first hit from a search
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emissio...
Edited by megaphone on Thursday 1st August 08:01
Well I just Googled "pay ulez" seemed simple enough to me.
To make it a bit more ambiguous I googled "ulez", the Google search comes up with the ulez website and then underneath clickable links one of which is "Paying the ULEZ charge" so you can either click that or click on the ULEZ home link which takes you to the main ULEZ page but it's pretty clear in there too.
Maybe your wife, OP, was getting her Congestion Charge and ULEZ mixed up, TBH until a few days ago my wife thought they were the same thing but with different terminology.
To make it a bit more ambiguous I googled "ulez", the Google search comes up with the ulez website and then underneath clickable links one of which is "Paying the ULEZ charge" so you can either click that or click on the ULEZ home link which takes you to the main ULEZ page but it's pretty clear in there too.
Maybe your wife, OP, was getting her Congestion Charge and ULEZ mixed up, TBH until a few days ago my wife thought they were the same thing but with different terminology.
siremoon said:
Also, if it's not a scam then why is it so badly signed and difficult to establish which roads are inside the zone and which are outside? The signage is sparse and small.
Well I live in an outer London borough, and as you enter our borough from Buckinghamshire, which we border, the signage is very clear. Most people know if the place they're traveling to is in a London borough, in which case it's within ULEZ, or Bucks, Herts, Surrey, Kent, etc which aren't ULEZ. TwigtheWonderkid said:
A scam that targets 5% of all vehicles on the road, and lets 95% off free, including every petrol car made since 2006, Lambos, Bentleys, Astons and Ferraris all unaffected, isn't a very good scam.
I don't think it's a scam, either...but do you really think that pre 2015 diesel vehicles make up only 5% of the cars on the road in the UK?My father picked up a ULEZ fine last year as he did not realise he'd strayed into the zone (nr Hampton Court).
He politely wrote to them and explained his mistake, and they said as it was a "first offence" they'd let him off the fine if he just paid the charge, which he did.
Maybe worth a go?
He politely wrote to them and explained his mistake, and they said as it was a "first offence" they'd let him off the fine if he just paid the charge, which he did.
Maybe worth a go?
When it comes to the ULEZ charges and fines, there is very very little leeway given it seems. For the Bristol CAZ you can pay in advance and you get X days afterwards to pay, so it's fairly forgiving.
With the ULEZ it's pay up front or you get fined and they'll readily tot them up.
There's various FB groups on the topic but one guy had fines totally over £40k and another in the £30s. I mean it seems bold but no idea how those situations would be resolved.
But it's clear to see that the scheme makes TFL an extremely large amount of money. £26m in the first month of the expansion with 57,000 per day being hit with the charges. £230m from Jan 2022 to Jan 2023, and based on the months since expansion £300m+ is possible each year although you'd assume it would gradually decline over a time.
Wonder what happens when everyone is compliant?
With the ULEZ it's pay up front or you get fined and they'll readily tot them up.
There's various FB groups on the topic but one guy had fines totally over £40k and another in the £30s. I mean it seems bold but no idea how those situations would be resolved.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
A scam that targets 5% of all vehicles on the road, and lets 95% off free, including every petrol car made since 2006, Lambos, Bentleys, Astons and Ferraris all unaffected, isn't a very good scam.
I mean that's assuming you believe it's only 5% of vehicles on the road. I mean I lived at the literal edge of the extended zone and on a road with 17 houses, there were at least 4 non compliant vehicles. How indicative of the entire area that is I couldn't say. But it's clear to see that the scheme makes TFL an extremely large amount of money. £26m in the first month of the expansion with 57,000 per day being hit with the charges. £230m from Jan 2022 to Jan 2023, and based on the months since expansion £300m+ is possible each year although you'd assume it would gradually decline over a time.
Wonder what happens when everyone is compliant?
fushion julz said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
A scam that targets 5% of all vehicles on the road, and lets 95% off free, including every petrol car made since 2006, Lambos, Bentleys, Astons and Ferraris all unaffected, isn't a very good scam.
I don't think it's a scam, either...but do you really think that pre 2015 diesel vehicles make up only 5% of the cars on the road in the UK?TwigtheWonderkid said:
siremoon said:
Also, if it's not a scam then why is it so badly signed and difficult to establish which roads are inside the zone and which are outside? The signage is sparse and small.
Well I live in an outer London borough, and as you enter our borough from Buckinghamshire, which we border, the signage is very clear. Most people know if the place they're traveling to is in a London borough, in which case it's within ULEZ, or Bucks, Herts, Surrey, Kent, etc which aren't ULEZ. The ulez site is one of the worst that I have seen for setting up Autopay and seeing what is due. You have to setup an autopay account and then add cars to it. I did this - saw that it was confirmed on the screen and ticked the boxes to say "notify if problems".
Guess what ? The autopay was cancelled for some reason and I received 2 fines which I disputed. They cancelled the fines but said it was my fault, but in the meantime I had used a FOI request on the site to prove that I had set it up.
I wish you luck. ULEZ is a scam.
Just wait for the sh8t to hit the fan when the electric car users get hit with congestion charges and then the whole lot gets turned into pay-per-mile.
Guess what ? The autopay was cancelled for some reason and I received 2 fines which I disputed. They cancelled the fines but said it was my fault, but in the meantime I had used a FOI request on the site to prove that I had set it up.
I wish you luck. ULEZ is a scam.
Just wait for the sh8t to hit the fan when the electric car users get hit with congestion charges and then the whole lot gets turned into pay-per-mile.
spants said:
The ulez site is one of the worst that I have seen for setting up Autopay and seeing what is due. You have to setup an autopay account and then add cars to it. I did this - saw that it was confirmed on the screen and ticked the boxes to say "notify if problems".
Guess what ? The autopay was cancelled for some reason and I received 2 fines which I disputed. They cancelled the fines but said it was my fault, but in the meantime I had used a FOI request on the site to prove that I had set it up.
I wish you luck. ULEZ is a scam.
Just wait for the sh8t to hit the fan when the electric car users get hit with congestion charges and then the whole lot gets turned into pay-per-mile.
This! I found it very difficult to setup too for my wifes non compliant car.Guess what ? The autopay was cancelled for some reason and I received 2 fines which I disputed. They cancelled the fines but said it was my fault, but in the meantime I had used a FOI request on the site to prove that I had set it up.
I wish you luck. ULEZ is a scam.
Just wait for the sh8t to hit the fan when the electric car users get hit with congestion charges and then the whole lot gets turned into pay-per-mile.
My EV is setup with the CC exemption. I got a new EV a few months ago and transferred my private plate to the new car. I went into the CC zone a few weeks ago and forgot I hadn't setup the new car but didn't get a fine thankfully. I now have to work out how to remove the old car and add a new car with the same plate. Something tells me it's not going to be straight forward on their massively over complicated site.
Views on it being a scam will always differ, and many seem to simply believe what they are told.
The 95% compliant claim is utter BS, I live in an inner London Borough, and know all the fiddles being used. Not going to get into them here.
What I do consider a scam, is the weight limit imposed on Rotherithe tunnel, there are so many, and so many signs, you need to physically stop, read and take them in.
Some are self evident by height and width restrictions.
The weight limit though, is set to catch vehicles that do not break the others, at 2.8 tonnes. on a tunnel that has taken far heavier vehicles for donkies years.
For instance, a Transit custom meets width and size, a friend electrician was caught with this 10 times in one week, his van is a 300, carries little, lighter than any loaded 280, it is nothing but a money making scam, that causes pollution by longer journey required to avoid it, defeats that objective. And heavier traffic on other routes.
I can never find clean air figures for where I live, no monitors have been placed in the area, the cynical might say that is because of the airport. Which Citizen Kahn vetoed lifted the Tory Ban on Airport Extansion, before his bum got on the throne, like next day after being elected.
Yet people quote his propaganda.
If there is any improvement in air quality, it is because modern cars are running cleaner and have been for years, not because of the ULEZ or Congestion Charge, and the fear installed over diesel vehicles, not noticed any improvement here.
The 95% compliant claim is utter BS, I live in an inner London Borough, and know all the fiddles being used. Not going to get into them here.
What I do consider a scam, is the weight limit imposed on Rotherithe tunnel, there are so many, and so many signs, you need to physically stop, read and take them in.
Some are self evident by height and width restrictions.
The weight limit though, is set to catch vehicles that do not break the others, at 2.8 tonnes. on a tunnel that has taken far heavier vehicles for donkies years.
For instance, a Transit custom meets width and size, a friend electrician was caught with this 10 times in one week, his van is a 300, carries little, lighter than any loaded 280, it is nothing but a money making scam, that causes pollution by longer journey required to avoid it, defeats that objective. And heavier traffic on other routes.
I can never find clean air figures for where I live, no monitors have been placed in the area, the cynical might say that is because of the airport. Which Citizen Kahn vetoed lifted the Tory Ban on Airport Extansion, before his bum got on the throne, like next day after being elected.
Yet people quote his propaganda.
If there is any improvement in air quality, it is because modern cars are running cleaner and have been for years, not because of the ULEZ or Congestion Charge, and the fear installed over diesel vehicles, not noticed any improvement here.
Edited by anyoldcardave on Saturday 3rd August 10:21
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