Didn't register my LEGAL hire vehicle for Low Emission Zone - Euro Parking Collections

chrissavemoney

Hi all,

I couldn't find any similar posts on here and really looking to see if anyone has had a similar problem.

I recently moved to Germany and drove a hire van back to the UK to pick up some storage.
About 6 weeks after handing the van back in Germany I got a letter from the hire company saying I had received a fine. To my amazement I had been fined by the TFL for driving a Mercedes Sprinter (compliant to emissions standards) through the London Low Emission zone (LEZ).

As it was six weeks since the day the 'offence' took place, the fine was now over €1000 Euros and still accruing.

It seems that even though my hire van was compliant, I actually had to register it because it was a foreign vehicle. It seems an extraordinarily expensive fine for doing nothing wrong apart from the above and I will have a really hard time trying to pay it (now standing at about €1700). I have driven similar types of vans through the LEZ previously so knew that they were okay.

Has anyone got any advice about how to challenge this. I have been back and forth with TFL over the last month and came upon this forum so I thought I'd give it a go. My fine is frozen pending investigation now.

Many thanks.

Le_Kirk

Well, you won't find anything similar on here, this is a Parking Ticket board. You could try Pepipoo - here is a link.

beamerguy

We only deal with private parking fines, you best place is on
http://forums.pepipoo.com/

Don't use a hotmail addy

£1000 is steep but you must understand, someone has to pay for the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and all the trimmings ???

twhitehousescat

Euro Parking Collections are often mentioned on this and other forums , however it is usually a UK resident being chased by them (a private company) for failure to pay tolls etc in other countries

TFL have essentially washed there hands , as they know there is no way to collect from you

the only problem , is if the van hire company pay this and then charge you

I also think your euro calculator may be wrong , unless this is multiple offences

chrissavemoney

Thanks for the replies, I thought the forum was for parking AND fines, sorry if it's the wrong place.

I can assure you there is nothing wrong with the numbers, they are stated pretty clearly. This is one offence and a legal van which is what makes it so crazy.

TFL told me that as they can't get the vehicle details from DVLA for obvious reasons, that is why they use Euro Parking Collections. But to be honest at this point I don't believe much either of them are telling me.

I'll have a look on the other forums you mentioned, a search on here for Euro Parking Collections didn't bring anything up.

Thanks again.

Redx

exactly, its the wrong place because this forum has no specialty in the TfL penalty topic like the low emissions etc (hence why your search on here failed)

pepipoo has special sections where you may find experts who can guide you on your particular bespoke topic

StaffsSW

EPC Plc are generally safe to ignore, but it does depend on the hire company policy.

They try to collect unpaid Dublin M50 tolls here in the UK, and all they can do is send letters with more and more red ink.

I don't know how debt collection legislation works across Europe though.

twhitehousescat

I was looking for your previous posts , one with a statement about how many tickets your company had collected

the figure quoted by the OP worries me tho ,?

anyway to back above up https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5762562/low-emissions-zone-fine-from-euro-parking-collection-plc&highlight=euro+parking+collections

StaffsSW

The fines are indeed massive - starting at £500, so with the escalation and usual EPC plc habit of fee gouging, the figures are not beyond the realms of possibility.

I still have the files, but any new letters have been shredded on arrival for around a year now - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5376308/epc-plc

chrissavemoney

Thanks for the link there, not sure why it didn't come up in my search.

I found another case here, for anyone who finds this thread on a similar search.

pepipoo.com/lofiversion/index.php/t117547.html