TfL issues £130m worth of Congestion Charge fines in a year

Transport for London (TfL) issued £130 million worth of fines to motorists for failing to pay the congestion charge in the 12 months to September 2020.

Data obtained by Citroen UK reveals TfL issued more than 817,000 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) to vehicle owners in the 12 months to September 2020.

Failure to pay the London Congestion Charge results in a fine of £160, reduced to £80 if paid within 14 days.

The fee, which was temporality increased from £11.50 to £15 from June 2020, alongside an extended seven-days-per-week charging window, is levied on vehicles that do not meet strict exemption criteria – namely emitting less than 75g/km of CO2 and having a minimum 20-mile zero emissions range.

More than 60% of the PCNs were issued during the four months that followed the seven-days-per-week extension, suggesting many motorists may have been caught out on weekend trips to the Capital.

TfL is projecting an additional £113m of income as a consequence of implementing the temporary changes to the Congestion Charge - if they remain in place until April 2021 - which includes an extra £86m that was generated during 2020.

Eurig Druce, Citroën UK's managing director, said: “Electric vehicles, such as the new e-C4, e-SpaceTourer and e-Dispatch van are perfect for keeping motoring bills to a minimum. Not only do they help drivers save significantly on running costs, but as our latest research shows, they also eliminate the chance of unexpected and expensive fines for forgetting the Congestion Charge Zone payment and other low emission zone tariffs.”

A total of 4.02m London Congestion Charge payments were made for vehicles between October 2019 and September 2020, generating a revenue of £52.7m.