Was I ULEZ'd?

Grumpy_chap

I had to go to Brent Cross today and aware that an inadvertent crossing or exit from the North Circular and that would be me done for.

On exiting the shopping centre car park, I was taking care to keep out, so erring on the side of caution, I took an incorrect exit, but believed I was on the correct side.  I ended up veering along Spalding Road, then turned left into Park Road, left again and then alongside a Renault Dacia dealership approached a roundabout and did a right turn onto the A406 North Circular to come home.  (When I took the incorrect slip, I breathed a sigh of relief that it was hugging the shopping centre so believed I would be outside the crime scene.)

I have looked at the way I went on Google Maps and it all seems to be outside the crime scene:



My concern originates from the signage that I saw when I had turned out of the car park and just before the turn into Park Road.  There was a sign plus very prominent cameras.  Google Streetview does not seem to show the camera as dominant as the reality (perhaps the cameras have been recently enhanced) plus the sign looked far more scary when passing it by than the Google Streetview shows:


I do not have dashcam so can not play back the video to see exactly what I saw.

I think from the above that I am all clear.
Part of me says to pay the charge as a precaution so I avoid the death sentence.

mgfvvc

The TFL app, and presumably the web site, takes your registration number and tells you if you were caught.

Grumpy_chap

mgfvvc said:

The TFL app, and presumably the web site, takes your registration number and tells you if you were caught.

Thanks, but I am not sure how that works.
Won't TFL only tell me in however long it takes then to send me the penalty charge in the post?
Is there a way to check in advance?
I have been online and it simply confirms that my car would be chargeable if I need to pay (drove in the zone), but does not say whether I was in the zone, that seems to be done to me to assess.
Perhaps I am looking in the wrong place on the website?

KP20

mgfvvc said:

The TFL app, and presumably the web site, takes your registration number and tells you if you were caught.

The website doesn't tell you if you've driven in ULEZ, you can only pay there. Not sure about the app.

I don't know the area well enough to interpret but recently I was caught by doing the shallowest u-turn in a road that I didn't quite realise was part of ULEZ, so... I did the same as you and decided to pay just in case. Good job too, as I was definitely in the zone.

Grumpy_chap

mgfvvc said:

The TFL app

Which APP please?
I found the "TFL GO" app but that seems to only work for tube, bus and rail related stuff.
Is there another one that covers driving charges?

I also thought about signing up for auto-pay to cover me on the ULEZ risk.  However, to sign up for auto-pay will cost me £10 (free from 31st January) against £12.50 if I just paid the charge.
AIUI, I have three days to work out whether I need to pay the charge or not.

mgfvvc

Grumpy_chap said:

mgfvvc said:

The TFL app

Which APP please?
I found the "TFL GO" app but that seems to only work for tube, bus and rail related stuff.
Is there another one that covers driving charges?

It's labelled as the TFL Drive app on my phone.

Jaybee_16

All the roads you mentioned are north of the NCR and outside the ULEZ until that is expanded in August.

Grumpy_chap

mgfvvc said:

It's labelled as the TFL Drive app on my phone.

Thank you - I will put the app on the phone and see if it tells me where I have been.

Jaybee_16 said:

All the roads you mentioned are north of the NCR and outside the ULEZ until that is expanded in August.

Thank you - that's what I thought from looking at the ULEZ map, but it was the signs and in-your-face camera gantry that left me nervous.

jimjames

mgfvvc said:

The TFL app, and presumably the web site, takes your registration number and tells you if you were caught.

I've certainly not found that on their website. I had gone into the zone but it was unable to tell me if I had and whether I was due to pay the charge or for which day. Appalling system. My wife got fined for driving near zone and accidentally taking wrong exit off roundabout, no way to avoid penalty when you don't realise you've crossed a mythical line.

Grumpy_chap

mgfvvc said:

The TFL app, and presumably the web site, takes your registration number and tells you if you were caught.

mgfvvc said:

It's labelled as the TFL Drive app on my phone.

Righto, I downloaded and installed the APP, it shows as "" in the app screen and the full details of the App is called "Tfl Pay to Drive in London c1.3.37339.

I can't see that it allows me to enter the registration number and date and get a result of whether I was in the zone.

It has "check what I need to pay" which allows me to enter the registration plate plus registered in the UK yes/no and then confirms that if I drive in the zone I will need to pay ULEZ.
The app also has "Pay to drive" which takes the vehicle details and I can select a date, but it still just then allows me to pay - it is not confirming whether or not I was in the zone.

Am I doing something wrong?
Is there a different app?