Original ULEZ PCN not received now have £270 fine.

Southtowner

Has anyone else been victim to this farcical fine?
Apparently on the 18/3/2023 we entered the ULEZ zone, at the time on our trip in to buy a car, we didn't see any signs, Waze and google maps didn't flag up we were entering this zone, even the person we bought a car from didn't say anything. 
It wasn't until the 22/05/2023 when I received a charge certificate demanding £270 that I found out we had entered the ULEZ zone on Watermead Way. I went on line and sure enough there was the image of my car and trailer.
How two reasonably intelligent and observant people missed the signs while navigating our way in is beyond me, anyway unfair cop that it is, I'm willing to accept we inadvertently entered the ULEZ and pay the ridiculous £90 fine.
HOWEVER, I'm certainly not willing to pay the £270 fine because as I did not receive the original PCN so after spending an age trawling the ULEZ website i eventually sent an enquiry email asking what the process is for those who did not receive the original PCN.
Today I received an email reply and this is what TFL have said.

"Transport for London (TfL) has noted your comments that you did not receive the PCN. However, our records show that the PCN was issued on 24/03/2023 and a Charge Certificate issued on 16/05/2023 both sent to the same address
Please be advised that at this stage you can either pay the outstanding amount of £270.00, or once the Notice of Debt Registration has been issued you can file a Statutory Declaration, as outlined on the correspondence if you believe you have grounds to do so. You may only make a Statutory Declaration if one of the following grounds applies to you:
•You did not receive the original Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) This does not apply if you forgot to pay the penalty charge, mislaid it or forgot to make a representation. If you did not receive the original PCN because you moved address, ensure your Statutory Declaration includes details of your new address.

If you wish to file a Statutory Declaration, the statutory declaration form will be attached with the Order for Recovery. The PCN has to be registered with the Traffic Enforcement Centre (TEC) prior to a statutory declaration being filed. Once the Order for Recovery has been issued, this will indicate that the PCN has been registered with the Traffic Enforcement Centre. The amount on the PCN will increase to £279.00 due to registration fee if applicable."

So, I now have to wait for a Notice of Debt Registration to be made against me before I can fill in a Statutory Declaration saying I didn't receive the initial PCN. Furthermore, I have to have this Statutory Declaration witnessed by a solicitor (at my cost) or somehow by a county court!

Soooo, has anyone gone through this same rigmarole, is saying that the PCN and Charge certificate to the same address proof of delivery? I'm starting to wonder whether this is a complete scam by TFL, as it is in their interest to not send the original PCN out, as they may three times as much in fines?
Can anyone offer any advice as I can ill afford £90 let alone £279 and please accept my apologies for such a long post, many thanks.

TOP_CAT

I would double check your V5C address to be certain its up to date so your postal address is known to be correct .
Your driving licence address details and your V5C address do not update together they require separate notification.

If a out of town driver in busy london traffic was to read every sign they are supposed too they would very likely have a accident... its not actually safe to do so in london traffic you need your eyes on the road even with the 20mph limits .

Keep_pedalling

It won’t be a scam TFL could never get away with such a scheme, either the notices got lost in the post or you may have accidentally filed it as junk mail.

Too late for you now but for anyone unfamiliar with driving into London with a non exempt vehicle should check if their destination is in the zone before leaving, had you had done that you would see that the whole of that road is well within the zone, and it would not have mattered that you missed the large signs warning that you were approaching the zone and the equally large sign that you were entering it.


https://ulez.co.uk/ulez-map/

Indout96

Keep_pedalling said:

Too late for you now but for anyone unfamiliar with driving into London with a non exempt vehicle should check if their destination is in the zone before leaving, 

https://ulez.co.uk/ulez-map/

Just tried to check my car as we are off to Heathrow at the end of the month and the site is down 
As its a 2018 petrol I am assuming its OK but when the site is down how can the possibly fine people for not checking.
 

baser999

Indout96 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Too late for you now but for anyone unfamiliar with driving into London with a non exempt vehicle should check if their destination is in the zone before leaving, 

https://ulez.co.uk/ulez-map/

Just tried to check my car as we are off to Heathrow at the end of the month and the site is down 
As its a 2018 petrol I am assuming its OK but when the site is down how can the possibly fine people for not checking.
 

There’s numerous sites that’ll confirm if you’re compliant or not; wouldn’t rely on TFL site being down as any sort of defence

jimjames

TOP_CAT said:

If a out of town driver in busy london traffic was to read every sign they are supposed too they would very likely have a accident... its not actually safe to do so in london traffic you need your eyes on the road even with the 20mph limits .

Having visited London last weekend in my non compliant vehicle I was getting very worried when the signs were saying LEZ 1 mile and then switched to ULEZ 2 miles shortly after. It seems crazy that there are so many schemes with different rules that affect drivers and that the actual signage on the roads affected is so tiny. I can easily see how you can miss it when it's just a very small ULEZ on one junction of a very big roundabout sign. Even more ridiculous is that the TFL site can't even tell you that you're due to pay a charge, you have to know already.