Léo Taccoen, a French haulier, has received 333 fines in just two weeks; 12 for unpaid congestion charges and 321 for missing payment when entering the Low Emission Zone, reports French media outlet Ouest France.
The self-employed haulier, who carries out cold transportation between central London and Calais every other day, thought he was aware of the regulations in place. One could imagine his surprise when he received 3 letters in just two weeks regarding 333 ULEZ and congestion charge fines.
According to the French transport news site Les Routiers, Taccoen drives a Euro VI classed Scania S 500, therefore, he was certain that neither congestion charges, nor the ULEZ charge regulation applies to him.
According to the regulation, he is correct. As the website of Transport for London (TfL) explains, HGVs must either meet the Euro VI standard or pay a daily charge to enter the zone.
It could nonetheless be the case that the French haulier had failed to register his vehicle with TfL, which means he is liable to be charged.
“If you’re driving a vehicle registered outside the UK, you’ll need to register it with us to let us know that it meets the LEZ emissions standards so we can add your vehicle to our database. It’s important that you do this, because if you drive in the LEZ without registering, even if your vehicle meets the standards, you’ll have to pay the daily charge, or may receive a Penalty Charge Notice,” states the TfL website.
The charges issued by the Euro Parking Collection plc (EPC) amount to 205,000 euros in total, which would put Taccoen in serious financial difficulty.
However, according to the driver-owner, he is not the only one who has received such an unprecedented amount of penalties from EPC in such a short time. An action group called “EPC official complaint group” has even been established to find out whether the fines, and the way they were issued, are in line with the legislation.