Motorcyclist says dog ate ULEZ letters leaving him thousands of pounds in debt to TfL
21 April 2024, 19:46
A motorcyclist has slammed TfL for leaving him thousands of pounds of debt after a dog ate letters informing him of ULEZ fines.
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Del Hudson, 54, says he was unaware of his 2000 Honda Fireblade being non-compliant with Sadiq Khan's ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) when the area was extended last August.
When he was first fined for not paying for the charge, Mr Hudson paid the penalty and assumed that the ULEZ would be automatically charged to him after setting up an account.
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But Mr Hudson was fined four more times - with one reaching £2,000.
The ULEZ expansion spearheaded by Mayor of London Mr Khan was fiercely controversial - and several automatic numberplate recognition cameras (ANPR) have been vandalised to stop the enforcement of the charge.
The motorcyclist said Transport for London (TfL) even issued a warrant which could have seen bailiffs come to his door and that he "just didn't deal with".
Mr Hudson said that his dog "ate two of the letters" which were sent to him - and that if all seven had been escalated to the £2,000 penalty he would have been paying out half of his annual wage.
In a shock move, TfL offered to cancel the fines issued to Mr Hudson.
But he was still less than impressed, saying that he believed the good-will effort was made to make the organisation look good.
He added that it had "something to do with the election".
