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PCN - Birmingham Clean Air Zone. Why can't they automate ?
Couple of weeks back, I drove to Birmingham, and that was after a long time. I was aware of the payment that I needed to make for driving in the clean air zone; however, I had an extremely busy and stressful week after that and completely missed it. Today I received a PCN for 60 pounds.
I spoke with someone from the council, who flatly refused to consider any revoking of the PCN. I was also surprised to find that they don't have any automated payment scheme for drivers to register (like you have in London) and avoid penalties. I told her that I would avoid travelling to her city altogether in future; which didn't seem to bother her at all!
It seems to me that Birmingham council is deliberately running the scheme to make money out of mistakes by people. If they have the technology to identify cars and send notices, they can easily introduce an automated payment scheme too. They haven't done so simply to make money from these penalties.
It surprises me, that the second largest city of UK has not got that technology in 2026, when London has been doing that for 10-15 years. Even developing countries like India has got such facilities for their road users today! Can Martin not start a campaign for such schemes to be introduced in all clean air zones across UK?
Comments
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"I told her that I would avoid travelling to her city altogether in future; which didn't seem to bother her at all!"
Why would she care if you come to Birmingham - she's never going to know! These schemes are designed to reduce car journeys, so in that respect this is maybe a design feature rather than a flaw if it results in fewer people returning…1 -
Be careful what you wish for, yes London has the automated payment scheme but they also keep charging the wrong people.
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Avoiding Birmingham these days is not thing
I lived there for several years loved it but not now
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I am unfortunate enough to live under Birmingham City Council and I agree they are absolute clowns. I don't have any advice for you to be honest. We've not had an issue with the clean air zone payment, as both cars in the household are exempt anyway.
The way BCC have handled the bin collections is proof enough of how incompetent they are.
Striving to clear the mortgage before it finishes in Dec 2028 - amount currently owed - £7,740.41. Nearly there!2
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