Continuous fines for congestion zone - can I invoice TFL for my time?!

lolamancity

Herzlos said:

I'd be sorely tempted to let some of them go to collections and then court, show the judge the obvious evidence that it's the wrong car and how much time you wasted previously chasing them about it and ask for your costs back.

Sadly unless it hurts TfL they probably won't do anything meaningful about it.

There'd also be nothing wrong with starting a 'money claim online' against TfL headquarters for your time every time you fight one.

I have given that thought as an option but I'm a bit of a wuss and also I'm in Manchester so don't really know how that works with logistics and whether I'll end up creating a bigger monster! 

Never heard of a money claim online so off to investigate that now... Even if it's not enforceable it'll come across as more serious than me sending caps lock to them all the time haha

Herzlos

You should be able to have it in a court local to you, and unless you rack up £5k in fees it'd be small claims which is basically just a side room with a judge. It should be a slam dunk of "Here's my car, here's the car in question, and here's them acknowledging the mistake".


Also, have you seen a photo of the registration plate on the other car and does it look like it's deliberately tweaked to be misleading? I'd report that to the police separately to give you a paper trail in case you get any speeding fines etc. They may even go out and get the driver to fix the plate (though it's unlikely).

born_again

ThorOdinson said:

Possible GDPR issue too, if they are getting your personal data based on repeatedly misreading the plate.

Nope.

Car reg has nothing to do with personal data.

LightFlare

I would send them pictures of your car and plates and possibly a copy of your V5 along with a cease and desist demand whilst also requiring them to immediately remove any electronic data they hold on you

lolamancity

Herzlos said:

You should be able to have it in a court local to you, and unless you rack up £5k in fees it'd be small claims which is basically just a side room with a judge. It should be a slam dunk of "Here's my car, here's the car in question, and here's them acknowledging the mistake".


Also, have you seen a photo of the registration plate on the other car and does it look like it's deliberately tweaked to be misleading? I'd report that to the police separately to give you a paper trail in case you get any speeding fines etc. They may even go out and get the driver to fix the plate (though it's unlikely).

Yep seen plenty of pics of the other car on the FPN's, doesn't look to be tweaked at all to me, and once you realise it's not my Reg (NLD), you can't unsee it. It's made me realise that this must be a common misreading with an O/D on a plate, particularly it being the end character

molerat

born_again said:

ThorOdinson said:

Possible GDPR issue too, if they are getting your personal data based on repeatedly misreading the plate.

Nope.

Car reg has nothing to do with personal data.

Illegally obtaining your personal data from DVLA is though.

TFL is governed through the Local Government Ombudsman so possibly a complaint over misuse of data then on to them.

lolamancity

I've just submitted another complaint to their generic complaints form online, stating that commencing with the FPN I've received this week, following my ignored last official complaint stating I'd like an invoice address for my admin time, I'll be charging £50 per FPN in each 6 month period. Hopefully that'll be the last of it, I doubt it though. 

Jumblebumble

born_again said:

ThorOdinson said:

Possible GDPR issue too, if they are getting your personal data based on repeatedly misreading the plate.

Nope.

Car reg has nothing to do with personal data.

Thats interesting as in this case TFL will be obtaining the OPS details from the DVLA each time without reasonable cause and then harassing them

I could swear  that private parking firms have been ordered by smalls claims court to pay compo in exactly the same circumstances

born_again

Jumblebumble said:

born_again said:

ThorOdinson said:

Possible GDPR issue too, if they are getting your personal data based on repeatedly misreading the plate.

Nope.

Car reg has nothing to do with personal data.

Thats interesting as in this case TFL will be obtaining the OPS details from the DVLA each time without reasonable cause and then harassing them

I could swear  that private parking firms have been ordered by smalls claims court to pay compo in exactly the same circumstances

TFL are asking for details on the car reg, system is showing. Reasonable cause 🤷‍♀️
DVLA are providing the data.

Totally annoying & get OP's pain on this. Looking at pic on reg of correct car, seems pretty clear what it is.

ThorOdinson

It's not reasonable if they have been informed that they keep misreading this particular plate.

Given the amount of harassment and time wasting there could be quite a substantial settlement for this violation. A single incident e.g. a parking company sending one false invoice is typically around £750, and this is clearly a lot more serious.

OP, you could complain to the ICO that they keep misusing your personal data. You could also send TFL an offer to settle the GDPR violations. The ICO has a list of examples of settlements on its site but I don't have the link right now.