I was incorrectly charged £1300 in Ulez charges but TfL will only refund me £300 – SALLY FIXES IT

I signed up for the Transportation program for London (TfL) Automatic payment system to pay the congestion charge when driving into London, but I noticed after checking my bank account recently that I had also charged Ulez. (Ultra Low Emission Zone) for the last 12 months.

This amounted to £1300, even though I drive a vehicle that complies with the exhaust emissions regulations, so is exempt. I contacted TfL, thinking it would be easy to get my money back. Eventually, TfL emailed me back admitting that my car complies with the regulations, but said they could not refund my money.

I later received a cheque for £300, but I don’t understand why I haven’t received more.

Anonymous, via email.

Sally Hamilton responds: The effort to improve the capital’s air quality comes at a price for drivers whose vehicles do not meet certain emissions standards: they must pay £12.50 each day they drive through the ultra-low emissions zone, which basically covers most of London within the M25.

To make their lives easier – and avoid nasty fines – many drivers sign up to TfL’s AutoPay scheme, which collects monthly congestion charges and Ulez.

I thought I had it set up for the congestion charge only, but TfL also accepted ULEZ payments, although these didn’t apply to my 2020 petrol car.

Some will say that you should have checked your bank statement sooner, but in your defense, you thought the monthly bills were only for the congestion charge.

Shortly after realising his mistake in June this year, he submitted his V5C registration to check his car’s credentials and hoped for a full refund.

After much back and forth over two months, you received a cheque for just £300 plus an email saying that the ULEZ scheme “does not facilitate the refund of daily ULEZ charge payments and does not provide an appeals process for motorists to claim a refund of daily charge payments”.

This confused you, as it confused me. You had clearly been reimbursed £300, which the same letter said was based on the dates in your logbook. You refused to cash the cheque and came to me for help.

I felt he had a case as he could prove his car complied with the rules all year round, so I asked TfL to investigate.

After a few days, TfL concluded that it would refund the full £1,300 after all.

It emerged that the erroneous charges arose because you have a private number plate, which prior to 2020 had been attached to a non-compliant vehicle belonging to someone else. While TfL remained firm on its position of being able to refund only the period shown on evidence of your registration, it agreed to refund the previous charges as a gesture of goodwill.

A TfL spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the distress the reader has experienced. Once we received evidence showing that the vehicle to which their number plate was attached met ULEZ standards, we refunded the daily charges made through their autopay account, as per the dates shown on the documents they provided. We have since used our discretion and refunded the remainder of the charges.”

To avoid surprise charges, drivers should use TfL’s vehicle checker at tfl.gov.uk – especially important, it seems, when switching to a personalised number plate.

The spokesperson added: “We have a registration process in place that allows drivers to contact us and update their vehicle’s compliance status if they believe it is incorrect, including providing evidence of compliance.”

He says that until evidence is provided and the database is updated, owners will have to pay the daily fee to avoid penalties.

To prove that a private number plate has been transferred, TfL requires a letter from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency confirming the transfer and a copy of the V5C from the vehicle’s previous and current registration so that the vehicle identities can be correctly matched.

TfL has apologised for the unclear explanation of refund rules in its correspondence.

Refunds for ULEZ charges are normally only issued to drivers of non-compliant vehicles who make daily payments in advance, but perhaps realise in advance that they won’t be passing through the zone after all. It says refunds are not possible after the date of the paid journey as TfL does not keep records of photographed number plates.

However, AutoPay customers have 90 days to dispute debited charges.

If a customer has mistakenly paid daily charges for a compliant vehicle, they may, like you, receive a refund upon receipt of proof that the vehicle meets emissions standards.

Drivers who have received a fine (£180 or £90 if paid within 14 days) for an unpaid Ulez fine can appeal within 28 days at tfl.gov.uk. If they do not receive a response, they can contact The Road User Charging Adjudicators at londontribunals.gov.uk

In the 1990s I was treasurer of a Masonic lodge of which I am still a member. At that time I opened an account with Nationwide Building Society to deposit raffle proceeds and donations to charity.

I was a signatory for a while, along with the trustee of the charity. Sadly, he and a treasurer who replaced me have since passed away. But it turns out my name was left as a signatory on the account. The current treasurer found the account book and asked me to investigate how to get the remaining balance of £664. Apparently the funds have been paid, but we don’t know to whom. Even though I’ve provided proof of my identity, Nationwide won’t tell me anything more. What do I do now?

EH, Eastbourne, East Sussex

Sally Hamilton responds: Masonic lodges were once famous for their secrecy, but I found it odd that Nationwide kept the whereabouts of its lodge account balance a secret.

I asked the building society to investigate. They investigated the case and discovered that a mix-up had arisen following the death of one of the lodge treasurers who had been in office after you. In putting your affairs in order, your daughter found an application form for this account with your signature on it and believed it belonged to you. She contacted Nationwide who closed the account in September 2022 and the balance passed to your widow.

Following my intervention, it emerged that the late treasurer had been removed as a signatory in 2012, so he was not actually eligible to receive the money (and neither was his widow).

Nationwide said it was an unfortunate error as proper checks were not carried out. However, the building society quickly agreed to pay the full £664 as an ex gratia payment into the lodge’s account, subject to evidence from the lodge including a copy of the lodge’s constitution, minutes of a meeting and confirmation from the authority’s current members. It confirmed it would not ask the widow of the deceased treasurer for the money.

A Nationwide spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, due to human error, the original account was closed and the money was incorrectly paid to the widow of our deceased customer. We apologise for the error and will be making a payment for the full balance of the previous account to the correct charity account.”

Scam Watch

Buyers Beware of fraudulent emails impersonating Morrisons, warns consumer website Which?.

Scammers are luring supermarket customers by claiming they could win a ‘brand new’ KitchenAid (normally sold for £469) if they complete a survey about their experiences in-store.

The survey also asks for personal and financial information and the email says the recipient should “hurry” as there are a “limited” number of prizes to be won.

Do not click on any links in the email. Instead of forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk

Straight to the point

I left my vehicle in a Birmingham car park for a long weekend, but lost my parking ticket while I was away. I thought I had been charged the maximum daily rate of £12.50, as the cameras could show how long I had been there. But when I got to the ticket checkpoint, I was told I had to pay a ‘lost ticket fee’ of £100 per day. I had to pay this, but how can this be right? HJ, Birmingham.

The parking company apologises and says that they have overcharged him and that he should have paid the £100 fee. They have refunded him the full £300.

I opened a stocks and shares ISA in July and transferred £2000 from my current account. The provider said it would take up to five days to open, but after five days it still hadn’t opened. I called the provider and the operator told me my account wasn’t on their system. What can I do? RS, via email.

The provider says the delay was due to the verification process for opening new accounts. The call operator had a temporary problem with access, so he was unable to view your account. Your account is now open.

My wife and I were due to fly to Tobago with British Airways in April, but the flight was delayed by more than five hours. I claimed £1040 in delay compensation, but the deadline for settling claims has passed and we have not received anything. Many other passengers have received their refunds, so why not me? Bachelor of Science, Nuneaton.

British Airways has apologised and has now received full payment.

In December, I was offered £25 compensation by the Department for Work and Pensions following a review of the case by the independent examiner, but this has never been paid to me. All follow-up emails I have sent have gone unanswered. PS: Portugal.

He has now received the late payment, along with £50 as a gesture of goodwill.