Driver who never entered Bristol sent Clean Air Zone warning

A man who lives 150 miles from a clean air zone has been sent a warning for entering it, despite never going there.

The zone in Bristol is due to go live on 28 November and levies a charge on certain polluting vehicles.

Ian Hughes, from Merseyside, said he is one of a number of motorists to receive an early warning letter, sent in error following a camera problem.

Bristol City Council said anyone who did not enter the city in September and has received a letter should ignore it.

The council began sending out letters on 31 October to drivers using vehicles that had been triggered by new cameras on the edge of the Clean Air Zone, but it has since admitted some of the cameras may be faulty.

The letters warned the drivers that while they were not being fined for that specific trip, they would be if they make the same journey into the Clean Air Zone after the scheme starts.

Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol, Mr Hughes said he initially thought his number plate had been cloned and spent several hours on the phone to two separate police forces and the DVLA trying to resolve the issue.

It was only later on that he discovered that the cameras may have an issue reading number plates with a certain combination of letters.

Mr Hughes has since written to the council asking for £300 compensation for his wasted time.

"Since putting this on the Bristol City Council Facebook page I've been contacted by several other people who have had the same experience as me wasting their time and being upset and worried about the vehicle being cloned," he added.

"You simply cannot expect to send out these inaccurate letters and then not cover the genuine time costs to correct your mistakes."

A motorist on Twitter revealed that they lived in Wigan and had never "been south of Nottingham", yet were sent one of the warnings.

They branded the council "an absolute clown show".

Another woman said that her mother - whose car has never left Kent - also received one.

She called on the council to "sort its cameras out... as this is adding to her stress in what are already stressful times".

A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said the Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras set up to monitor traffic in the zone were undergoing some maintenance during a three-week trial in September.

This has been identified as a potential cause, with the cameras having an issue with number plates containing the letter "Y", the council explained.

It did not say exactly how many letters were sent out but said the numbers were "very low".

In a statement, it added: "If you weren't in Bristol in September, ignore the letter."

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