TfL Ref: 1823-2425
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 28 August 2024 asking for information about Road User Charging scheme / auto pay incorrect charges. I apologise for the delay in replying.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. Your questions and our replies are as below:
Using my rights under the Freedom of Information Act I request the following -
• ALL evidence for every autopay charge made against my account, including but not limited to CCTV/images, date times and charge amounts.
This part of your request for your personal information is being treated as a subject Access Request or SAR and will be responded to separately.
• Please provide me a total figure of incorrectly issued fines against motorists with the same issue where the VRM has been incorrectly recorded.
• Please provide me with a total figure of charges that have been incorrectly charged through autopay due to an incorrectly recorded VRM. Provide the number of incorrect charges as well as the amount in £.
To answer both questions above, our cameras operate using Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology. As a vehicle enters, leaves or drives within the Charging zone(s), its registration is pictured by a camera and a charge is applied to the Auto Pay account on which that vehicle is listed.
There may be a small number of instances where the registration is misread by the camera and a charge incorrectly added to an Auto Pay account. This does not result in a penalty being issued, rather an incorrect daily charge being placed on an Auto Pay account. When we apply Auto Pay charges to an account the account holder has 90 days to dispute the charge. One of the grounds on which an account holder can dispute a charge is that the registration of the vehicle being driven in the zone does not match the registration listed on the Auto Pay account i.e., the registration of the vehicle has been misread by the camera.
When a dispute is submitted, we do not record the dispute reason or outcome of the dispute so do not hold information on how many instances this has happened.
• Provide evidence that you have informed the DVLA of the system issue and the total number of breaches in terms of requesting keeper details against incorrectly issued fines considering the length of time this issue has been ongoing (on separate note, I will be reporting this obvious breach of contract to the DVLA).
We have not been in touch with the DVLA regarding camera misreads. We do not use DVLA data when administering Auto Pay, this includes instances when a vehicle registration may be misread.
• Please advise who is your CCTV provider including cameras, reviewing software, and notice processing.
TfL has contracts with a number of third party service providers, which provide the majority of the administration and 'back office' services that ensure the efficient day-to-day operation of the Road User Charging schemes and the scrappage scheme. This includes the customer database, the installation and maintenance of the cameras, the secure IT connection to the DVLA and debt recovery services within the UK and overseas.
Please see the following link to our contracts awarded data which is published on our website and which lists the contractors we use for our Road User Charging Schemes (please use Road User Charging as the search term): https://content.tfl.gov.uk/contracts-awarded-tfl.pdf
Please note that the following page of our website provides more detail about how TfL collects and uses the personal information collected for the operation of our Road User Charging schemes, including the various Data Protection Impact Assessments associated with the schemes. https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/privacy-and-cookies/road-user-charging
• Lastly please advise what measures you are going to put in place to prevent this from happening again and what actions you are taking to inform and resolve this for other customers who may not even be aware they are being over charged or are blindly paying fines such as the elderly through fear?
The terms and conditions of Auto Pay outline that it is the customers responsibility to read all emails relating to Auto Pay and to ensure that their mailbox settings allow the receipt of emails from us. Auto Pay statement lists are issued monthly and contain detailed information for every journey made within the charging zones, vehicles captured and amount due.
They are intended to help customers keep track of all their journeys, but also identify any possible errors. If an error is identified and raised within 90 days from the date of the statement, as clearly stipulated in the terms and conditions, TfL will always review the disputed charge and promptly refund the amount due, when appropriate.
In addition, when it is highlighted to us that a vehicle registration has been misread, we can introduce additional checks prior to a charge being placed on the specific account. This involves the carrying out of manual checks to ensure the camera has interpreted the registration correctly.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Sara Thomas
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
