Dispute the legality of your unfair congestion penalty charge using our report
by Victor G Lilley
Published by UPFA Ltd (Unfair Public Fines Action)
Unfair Congestion Penalty Charge ?
- Have you been unfairly given a Congestion Charging Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) by Transport for London (TFL)?
- Were you unaware you had even incurred the Congestion Charge?
- Were you aware that you had incurred the Congestion Charge, but forgot about it, and by the time you remembered, it was too late to pay?
- Was your PCN challenge, complaint or representation, wrongly dealt with by TFL, with a Notice of Rejection?
- Did the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service (PATAS) deal with your appeal or review, unjustly?
- Did the Administrative Court conduct an application for Judicial Review of PATAS’ decisions, unfairly?
You are not alone
TFL have taken £502m in congestion penalty charges from the start of the scheme until the end of February 2008. Then £10m a month thereafter. That’s a lot of other drivers paying penalties as well as you.
It's not your fault, it's the Scheme's, and the unfair principles behind it
As you can see above, your being fined was probably not to do with carelessness on your part, but a careless scheme that entraps many.
Worse, the principles behind the scheme, of fining people who are unaware they have even committed an offence in the first place, or making it difficult to pay to avoid getting a fine, can, and are, being applied elsewhere. Also, unfair penalties will be increasingly applied in the future in other areas, while citizens let them get away with it. Is this something you want, or can afford?
Why have you been unfairly fined?
Well, it’s is very easy not to realise you have incurred the congestion charge. His Honour Judge Bailey at the Central London County Court on 29 June 2007, agreed with this (I have it in writing via the court proceedings transcript), although he also said that he thought TFL would claim there were sufficient signs, despite the extra sign clutter they caused. So you get the penalty charge before you even have a chance to pay the congestion charge.
Even if you realise you have incurred the congestion charge, it is very easy to forget to pay, and not remember quick enough, to avoid a penalty charge. So the scheme preys on human limitations and weaknesses and many are entrapped. The amount taken in by TFL in penalties is evidence of this.
Why is the Scheme still unfair?
Its design has been unfair in the first place. Taking an open mind, you can see this as being innocent or deliberate. But TFL have not changed the design to make it fair, despite negative feedback as explained below.
I (Victor Lilley) have spent 5 years in the courts claiming the penalty part of the scheme is illegal, and they refuse to hear it. This includes PATAS, both Appeal and Review, the County Courts, Judicial Review and the Court of Appeal. TFL and PATAS encouraged this refusal.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, is refusing to take responsibility for this.
London Assembly Members have ignored my request to hold the Mayor to account.
London Councils misrepresented my claim and failed to act.
The Lord Chief Justice claims he had no power to intervene in individual cases but allows the general alleged bias by judges to continue.
So the Courts and local government acting together to support the illegal scheme and that is one reason it remains unfair, but the other is:-
Victims of penalty charges are not protesting enough
Many drivers just pay up and give up, or do not make a strong enough case against their penalty charge, which just encourages further penalties, rather than causing TFL to change the Scheme’s design and make it fair. So this is another reason why the scheme remains unfair.
Are you going to encourage such unfair schemes, or stand up for yourself?
Because if we don't protest, we just get the rotten local governments and courts that we deserve.
‘All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing’ Edmund Burke.
What can you to do about it
Instead of letting them get away with it, dispute the penalty using my report.
Note that in disputing the penalty, I suggest you pay it, but under protest, as soon as possible, to avoid extra penalties and bailiffs. Then claim the penalty back by first writing to TFL. That is what I did.
The report is called ‘My claim that the penalty part of the Congestion Charge Scheme is illegal,’ which is based on the part of my claim that is likely to apply more generally, and is 33 A4 pages. It is published by UPFA Ltd. UPFA stands for Unfair Pubic Fines Action. This is a non-profit company limited by guarantee, which I formed to initially raise funds to support my claim.
How buying the report can help you
- Get the satisfaction of standing up to them, instead of letting them get away with it
- Increases the probability of the penalty being dropped
- Contains 30 legal grounds as to why I claim the penalty part of the Congestion Charge Scheme is illegal. You only need one accepted to win This is much more relevant law than you could research yourself in time, and for the cost of the report, At 1 day per page it would take you 33 days and cost you what you can get paid for other work per day.
- The courts have refused to the hear the Claim, and the GLA & London Councils are ignoring it, implying that they think the Scheme is illegal as well
- 75% of the Defendants (6 out of 8) have not defended the Claim, so by law, 3/4 of the Defendants are taken to admit it.
- Increase the probability of your illegality claim being heard, because you will have more law than I had at the time of my refusal, so they will be unable to do the same to you. In addition, the more people that do this, the more likely they will have to do something fair about it.
- The money from the report will go towards helping me take my case to a higher level, e.g. the Minister of Justice. Helping my case increases the probability of my winning and you benefiting from the changes I cause.
- Discourage further unfair fines, in this, and other areas
How to buy the report
The report costs £14.99 for citizens and £29.99 a copy for businesses or other organisations, including postage worldwide. For bulk orders please contact us for discounts.
Please make Cheques payable to UPFA Ltd and send them to Mr Victor George Lilley, UPFA Ltd, 16 Kingsway, Hayes, Middlesex, UB3 2TY. The report will be posted as soon as the cheque clears.
Otherwise you can make a credit/debit card or paypal payment. We regret we cannot accept card payments direct to UPFA Ltd currently, because our bankers, HSBC, have refused to open a current account for it, on the grounds ‘they want to be seen as politically neutral.’ So the only way we can do it by card currently, is to take payments via Lilley Information Systems Ltd, and transfer them to UPFA Ltd's building society deposit account. Both company’s accounts are checked and submitted to the authorities by our accountants, Leonard Mogilner & Co, 30 Leys Gardens, Cockfosters, Herts, EN4 9NA, Tel: 020 8441 2100, email: lm@mogilner.co.uk. To make a credit card payment please click on the button below:-
Donate
If you don’t want to buy the report, then instead please make a donation. If you do want to buy the report, but still want to make a donation, as well, please do it here. Send a cheque in the same way as described above but pay by credit/debit card and paypal using the button below.
Volunteer
If you would like to help by providing your time for free, please contact me. See below for details.
Feedback
I would appreciate feedback, negative and positive.
For example:-
If you have not bought the report, or donated, why not?
Suggestions on how this web page could be improved?
Suggestions on other ways to sell the report and get donations?
Suggestions on who to contact to help getting my case settled?
To do this, email me by clicking on this email address:-
This page is currently sponsored by Lilley Information Systems Ltd.
Contact: Victor Lilley
Phone: 020 8573 3911
Fax: 0560 126 9338
Email: vlilley@upfa.org.uk
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