A Brit grandad was left reeling after receiving over £600 in emissions fines, despite driving a zero-emissions car. The issue started when Keith Riding, 76, received a personalised number plate for his electric MG ZS, a Christmas present from his kids.
The Hampton resident, who lives just a short distance from London’s ULEZ low emissions boundary, followed the correct procedure and registered his new plate with the DVLA. He even set up autopay with Transport for London (TfL) for any trips into the Congestion Zone.
But pensioner Keith, who went electric after the ULEZ expansion in 2023, got the shock of his life when he found out that TfL had taken £625 from his account after the number plate swap. Despite driving a fully electric vehicle, which should give him a free pass from such fees, he was wrongly charged for entering both the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) and the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
The retired civil engineer thinks the mix-up might be down to the previous owner of the registration who was a Northern Irish driver who may have driven a commercial vehicle. “It’s a funny thing,” he said.
“I’ve had this electric car for two years and was given a new number plate for Christmas – all registered with the DVLA. But recently I suddenly found myself being debited for £625. It was a shock. The car is little used and the charge transpired to be for just two days.
“What that entails is £300 for the vehicle going into the LEZ zone twice, and £12.50 for going into the ULEZ zone twice. There are no emissions charges for electric vehicles, but the congestion charge in central London does apply. I registered for auto payment with TfL as I expect to occasionally enter the congestion zone for my medical condition treatment.
“The only reason I registered was in case I go into the Congestion Zone. If I’d been caught on a camera every day, I could have a £9,000 bill at the end of the month.”
Keith mentioned that his profile on the TfL system clearly states his car as an ‘MG ZS SE EV’, with the suffix spelling out loud and clear that it’s electric. “A previous owner of the plates would have been a commercial vehicle that would probably have never been near London,” he said. It’s worth noting that the number plate ends with a Z, which is usually given to Northern Ireland registrations.
“After getting a shock from my bank statement, I rang up TfL expecting a sorry and a swift refund think again! All they did was fob me off to fill an enquiry form online,” he said in frustration.
Thankfully, TfL has confirmed they’ve since sorted the error and got back to Keith. A spokesperson stated: “We are sorry that Mr Riding has incorrectly received ULEZ and LEZ charges when his vehicle is compliant. We have refunded all the charges and have contacted him to apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.”
Keith added: “I do have hopes that reimbursement of my funds will eventually be forthcoming, but it’s proving a warning as to what could happen with a new plate. Several more daily charges of £312.50 would drain me of thousands of pounds with impunity.”