Mayor urged to chase up £370m in unpaid Ulez fines

London’s mayor should be doing more to chase up drivers who fail to pay their Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) fines, says the London Assembly.

Latest figures show that more than £370m is owed in unpaid Ulez penalty charge notices.

In a letter to Sadiq Khan, the London Assembly has called for the collection of unpaid £180 penalty charge notices to be ramped up so investment in transport services does not suffer.

City Hall says more than £25m has been recouped in the past year and more staff have been dedicated to enforcement.

Over the summer it was revealed that almost one million fines were outstanding.

Motorists paying within 14 days have the fine halved to £90 but it increases to £270 if unpaid after 28 days.

Transport for London (TfL) found more than 1,400 vehicles were seized by bailiffs for not paying the Ulez charge in the 12 months to the end of July.

About 760 were auctioned and this recovered £710,000 of debts.

Neil Garratt, Conservative chair of the Budget Committee, said it was important to have more clarity on the financial impact of Ulez, which was expanded to cover the whole of London in August 2023.

“Such large sums of money being owed to Transport for London, which may not be recoverable, mean that much-needed transport investment projects may need to be scrapped," he said.

He added that the mayor should come up with measures to increase collection by the time of next year’s budget.

TfL’s provision for bad debt has risen from £160m in 2021-22 to £450m in 2023-24, coinciding with the expansion of Ulez from the original central London area.

The London Assembly has asked for more information on the income from Ulez, what the “ratio” of unpaid Ulez fines is to paid charges and whether TfL has taken a different approach to enforcing collection given the scale of Ulez non-payment.

It also suggests TfL may not be maintaining enough contingency funds to meet urgent problems like the recent cyber-attack where customer details were accessed.

This year the mayor transferred funds from City Hall so TfL could freeze its fares without being out of pocket.

The Assembly has asked Khan to clarify whether he would continue to provide that funding next year.

“If TfL’s finances and the mayor’s plans are not based on reality, they cannot be delivered,“ said Garratt.

TfL said it would triple the number of investigators working alongside enforcement agents.

In one case a motorist who moved to a new address was traced and forced to pay £16,000 in unpaid penalties, TfL said.

Alex Williams, TfL’s chief customer and strategy officer, said: “We want to send a clear message to vehicle owners that if you receive a penalty charge for driving in the zone, you should not ignore it.

“Your penalty will progress to enforcement agents to recover the fines that you owe, and there is a risk that your vehicle and other items of property will be removed."

Mr Williams said there was only a small minority of drivers who were eligible for the charge and even fewer who were refusing to pay.

But TfL is encouraging anyone experiencing financial difficulties not to ignore penalty charge notices and to engage with staff who will help set up debt payment plans.

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