Hundreds of drivers wrongly hit with ULEZ charges after camera to catch motorists was put in the WRONG place outside the zone’s boundary
- Transport for London placed camera on junction of Old Redding and the A409
- The junction separates Watford in Hertfordshire and Stanmore in North London
Hundreds of drivers have been wrongly hit with ULEZ charges after a camera to catch motorists was put in the wrong place.
Bosses at Transport for London have been forced to refund drivers after they put up a camera to catch drivers outside the ULEZ charging boundary.
It was put up on the junction of Old Redding and the A409, which separates Watford in Hertfordshire with Stanmore in North London – but is outside the capital’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone.
The camera was put up when Sadiq Khan’s hated new scheme was launched on August 29, but has since been switched and moved – and drivers have been refunded since transport chiefs realised their embarrassing error.
Drivers have been charged the £12.50 ULEZ fee – and some threatened with a £180 fine – even though they have not actually entered the zone.
The camera was placed at the junction of Old Redding and the A409, which separates Watford in Hertfordshire and Stanmore in North London
Bosses at Transport for London have been left ‘humiliated’ and now will have to pay back hundreds of motorists who were charged
The camera was put up when Sadiq Khan’s hated new scheme was launched on August 29, but has since been switched and moved
A TfL spokesperson said: ‘We apologise for this error. Unfortunately this camera was incorrectly positioned and we are urgently rectifying this. It has been switched off and will only be active when it has been repositioned. We will be refunding any charges that were wrongly issued.’
READ MORE: Mobile ULEZ cameras now come with their own ‘personal security’ as undercover car watches over van, while set of traffic lights are sawn in half in attack
But angry drivers have blasted the error for the worry and inconvenience it has caused them.
Joe, 49, a maintenance who wouldn’t give his surname, was ordered to pay the ULEZ fee despite avoiding the charging zone.
He told MailOnline: ‘It’s humiliating for TfL and they’ll have to pay back thousands of pounds but they deserve it as the ULEZ charge is nothing but a money-making scam anyway.
‘I live just outside the charging zone and sometimes take a route along Old Redding and left onto the A409 in Stanmore, both of which are outside the Zone. TfL say so as much on their website.
‘But I have set up an auto-pay account in case I have to venture into the ULEZ zone to see my parents.
‘I was registering a second car to my ULEZ account and noticed that a charge had been issued even though I hadn’t gone into the zone. I’d received no notification that I was being charged at all, I just spotted that money was due to be taken from my account.
Drivers have been charged the £12.50 ULEZ fee – and some threatened with a £180 fine – even though they have not actually entered the zone
Angry drivers have blasted the error for the worry and inconvenience it has caused them with one labelling the error as ‘humiliating’ for TfL
‘I did some digging and quickly realised the ULEZ camera had caught me driving on the A409, which is the boundary of the charging zone. If I’d turned right or gone straight over, I would’ve been inside it but I turned left and so was still outside.
READ MORE: Moment anti-ULEZ ‘Ninja blade runner’ scales a traffic light and cuts down camera with an angle grinder
‘When I contacted TfL I was told there is nothing I can do, the charge would still stand as I had been captured by a ULEZ camera and therefore must have entered the zone.
‘I told them that TfL are charging and fining people who haven’t driven inside the zone and wasting hours of my time disputing charges that are actually a TfL mistake.
‘My pleas fell on deaf ears, so I’m delighted to find out today that I – and many other motorists – were right all along. They were wrong and now they have to pay for it.
‘But I suppose the question is how many other examples of this are there around the boundary and how many people have had charges wrongly applied to an auto pay account that they do not even realize are there?’
Another upset motorist said she was caught out while driving south towards the crossroads of Old Redding, Brookshill, Clamp Hill and the A409.
Judy Wragg claims that despite turning right onto Old Redding, which sits outside the Ultra Low Emission Zone boundary, TfL sent her a warning letter.
Judy said: ‘I have been told if it happens again I will have to pay a £180 fine, even though I wasn’t in the zone. ‘The road is on the border of Hertfordshire and London, but I am worried I will get caught out again as paying that fine is unfair.’
She branded the situation ‘ridiculous’, adding others will certainly be caught out too.
One motorists wrote to TfL to point out its mistake but received a response saying nothing could be done as they had been captured by a ULEZ camera so must have entered the zone
TfL has since apologised and said motorists would be refunded the £12.50 daily charge in an embarrassing climb down
Judy, who lives near Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, added: ‘I want this to be a warning to others, it is very frustrating especially when you are getting fines without realising. It isn’t fair.
‘I hate to think how many people are getting caught out at this junction.’
ULEZ now covers the outer boroughs of London after being rolled out across the capital on August 29 having previously affected more central parts of the city.
It has been beset by problems since then, including the TfL site crashing due to huge volumes of drivers checking whether their cars are compliant with the scheme.
While drivers of pre-2005 petrol cars and pre-2015 diesel cars have been complaining they are being charged incorrectly because they have made upgrades to their vehicles to make them compliant, and gangs of vigilantes dubbed ‘Blade Runners’ incapacitating cameras by cutting them down or covering them in black paint.
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