Hi All
My wife and I really could do with some help and advice.

We entered London, only just into the ULEZ zone unaware on 11th May. We later receive two PCNs for entering that zone without paying the fee. One PCN for before midnight and the second after midnight on the return journey. The first time we knew about the ULEZ, what it was about, the fee that needs to be paid and that it is 24 hours was the time we first received those PCNs.

We feel very aggrieved about this and the fines are heavy. Because we received two fines, one for going into London before 12 midnight and a second for the return journey just after midnight, we have two fines, £160 each or £80 if paid early (so £160 or £320 as totals). This is heavy. We accept we drove into the zone and having now checked, that our car being a 2014 diesel would not be exempt. However, whilst we are aware of the congestion charge and knew it was the working week during work hours, whilst we knew about the Low emission zone, we never had to worry about it, so the ULEZ meant nothing to us until we did the research after receiving the PCNs.

We live outside London and never travel in by car, on the night of travel, we saw the usual congestion charge signs but do not remember ULEZ signs. We do not doubt they were there and they are noticeable but on the night we didn’t notice and certainly didn’t think it meant late on a Saturday night we had to pay a fee, twice for each side of midnight. Having now looked at the signs, there is no indication of a charge on the sign. In addition to any signage failings we think the awareness campaign for non Londoners cannot have been sufficient- we knew nothing about it!

The grounds for appeal are very restrictive and limited to arguments like has your vehicle been stolen, did you pay the charge, etc. So don’t allow for mitigating circumstances or any grey areas. We submitted an appeal which was rejected setting out our case for not being aware of it and given it was live for only three days previous, the fact it was such a new scheme had to surely be factored in their decision. However, we now have a few days to take the appeal to the next stage, Adjudicator who will look at it purely from a legal basis - it doesn’t appeal they can take mitigating circumstances into account. Also there is the usual carrot and stick to prevent going to the adjudicator by the offer of a 50% fine being withdrawn if the appeal is taken to the adjudicator.

Can anyone help us know how to challenge this? There isn’t any case law with it being so new. I have heard of someone who went through the zone at a similar time but received a letter saying they would be let off as it’s a new scheme - that person cannot find their letter but if that’s the case it shows inconsistencies in how first offenders are dealt with.