Civil Debts, Limitations Act and Congestion Charge

Dataless

I know that the Limitations Act sets a 6 year limit on action on some debt but does it apply to the Congestion Charge?

I am asking on behalf of a friend of mine who does not have great language skills, he says he was not the driver, but he was told to ignore it as it was not enforceable in his (EU) country, he was homeless for a considerable period and so he does not know what happened. 

At the time (he is not sure of the year but definitely before 2013, maybe as early as 2008) the matter was being chased by a 3rd party, I assume a debt collector.

Now he is coming back to the UK and he needs to register with TFL, are they likely to chase him and more importantly does the Limitations Act offer any protection  ?

I seem to remember that some civil debts like Income Tax and Council Tax remain owed forever and even survive DRO's and Bankruptcy, is that the case and would a Congestion Charge be the same?

sourcrates

That is actually a very good question, unpaid congestion charge debts go through various enforcement stages, and it starts with the issue of a "PCN", and if ignored an "order for recovery" comes next, which is not the same as a "county court judgement" so won`t appear on your credit file etc.

If the debt still remains unpaid, it goes to enforcement, so bailiffs knocking on doors etc.

As your "friend" lives abroad, these kind of debts are never chased outside of the UK, all paperwork etc would have been sent to the address of the registered keeper of the vehicle.

I would not rely on the limitation act as a defence to this matter, it will come down to how long TFL keep records for, if he registers with them, and they still have an outstanding debt linked to that name, bob`s your uncle I`m afraid.

Dataless

I forgot to thank you @sourcrates

Interestingly he did not come back to UK, but he was chased in his home country by some euro parking company.  He was in Germany and Spain, I advised him to form a company and have that as registered owner and keeper.