Birmingham Clean Air Zone Fines.

[Houdini Logic]

I drove to London a few weeks ago during the strikes and drove through the Ultra Low Emissions Zone. 

I went on the website the next day to pay the fine and it said there was no fine to pay, as somehow a 5.0L car meets the ULEZ standard. Seems ridiculous

[tom27111]

3 minutes ago, Houdini Logic said:

I drove to London a few weeks ago during the strikes and drove through the Ultra Low Emissions Zone. 

I went on the website the next day to pay the fine and it said there was no fine to pay, as somehow a 5.0L car meets the ULEZ standard. Seems ridiculous

 

Pretty much every car registered from 2017 will be Euro 6 and exempt from the London ULEZ charge, irrespective of engine size.

 

A lot of cars even a decade older will also be exempt. 

[HighPeakFox]

I ended up paying my hefty fine, but in doing so registered my opinion that the manner they collect these monies is at best iniquitous, and at worst borderline criminal.

[rachhere]

3 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Seriously, we here in Leicester live less than 40 miles away and have never had news of this (I guess unless you're one of those weird people whose Midlands TV news is West Midlands (which might as well be Birmingham news)).

 

Stuff like this should be nationally advertised for 6 months prior, and not be left to a sign or two the moment you unwittingly arrive.

 

A tax on the poor again, as the wealthy have mostly moved onto to vehicles that won't be affected by this.

 

And yes, something needs to be done about air pollution, but this isn't it.

It was actually introduced back during lockdown. You know when people were avoiding public transport, and shops and services were desperate for people to come back to them. Was madness 

[Bellend Sebastian]

10 hours ago, Houdini Logic said:

I drove to London a few weeks ago during the strikes and drove through the Ultra Low Emissions Zone. 

I went on the website the next day to pay the fine and it said there was no fine to pay, as somehow a 5.0L car meets the ULEZ standard. Seems ridiculous

ULEZs, to the best of my knowledge, are about particulate and toxic emissions rather than carbon emissions.

 

Whilst your car (and mine, actually) are doing their bit to contribute to climate breakdown through CO2 emissions, they're not directly poisoning those that breathe in their emissions in the here and now to any extent.

 

It's only in the last couple of years that it was proved in court that air pollution contributed to the death of a kid in London that I think lived near the North Circular, so that opens up a whole world of potential liability for already cash strapped local authorities.

 

Not sure of latest figures but I've seen before that poor air quality contributes to the early death of around 30,000 people in the UK annually, with 9-10,000 of those in the capital. There were also studies that suggested that air quality was contributing to variations in regional COVID death rates.

 

I know stuff like this is a ball ache, another thing to remember and might need us to change our habits, which nobody likes, but in this context, you can't really blame those running London, Birmingham or anywhere else with a pollution problem (which includes Leicester) not wanting us, especially those that don't actually live there, to add to the problem by driving our cars into their city centres where, you often sit in traffic jams, producing loads of toxic emissions that are breathed in by the local residents that don't get to leave for the suburbs at the end of the day

 

 

 

 

[FLAN]

Had to drive to Birmingham when trains were on strike. Saw some signs about this charge but found it hard to clarify if I needdd to pay it. I thought you’d be able to enter a reg number and it would confirm. Ended up paying for 2 days which is ridiculous as if I went in and out same day (same journey) only pay 1 day 

[FoyleFox]

7 minutes ago, FLAN said:

Had to drive to Birmingham when trains were on strike. Saw some signs about this charge but found it hard to clarify if I needdd to pay it. I thought you’d be able to enter a reg number and it would confirm. Ended up paying for 2 days which is ridiculous as if I went in and out same day (same journey) only pay 1 day 

I've used the Gov link to check for our journey. 

https://www.gov.uk/clean-air-zones

Edited 18 January 2023 by FoyleFox

[Tommy G]

He will have to pay the fines, but probably not the escalation in fine rates if posted to a different address. Best case: pay at normal rate, worst case: pay the lot. There are over 300 signs in place in Birmingham covering it, no excuse to miss it. 

[FLAN]

3 hours ago, FoyleFox said:

I've used the Gov link to check for our journey. 

https://www.gov.uk/clean-air-zones

I couldn’t find anything at the time for Birmingham. Thanks for the link 

[LiberalFox]

4 hours ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

ULEZs, to the best of my knowledge, are about particulate and toxic emissions rather than carbon emissions.

 

Whilst your car (and mine, actually) are doing their bit to contribute to climate breakdown through CO2 emissions, they're not directly poisoning those that breathe in their emissions in the here and now to any extent.

 

It's only in the last couple of years that it was proved in court that air pollution contributed to the death of a kid in London that I think lived near the North Circular, so that opens up a whole world of potential liability for already cash strapped local authorities.

 

Not sure of latest figures but I've seen before that poor air quality contributes to the early death of around 30,000 people in the UK annually, with 9-10,000 of those in the capital. There were also studies that suggested that air quality was contributing to variations in regional COVID death rates.

 

I know stuff like this is a ball ache, another thing to remember and might need us to change our habits, which nobody likes, but in this context, you can't really blame those running London, Birmingham or anywhere else with a pollution problem (which includes Leicester) not wanting us, especially those that don't actually live there, to add to the problem by driving our cars into their city centres where, you often sit in traffic jams, producing loads of toxic emissions that are breathed in by the local residents that don't get to leave for the suburbs at the end of the day

 

 

 

 

So essentially people who own cars that don't need to pay think this is fine and people who do have to pay don't think it is fair. 

[Bellend Sebastian]

17 minutes ago, LiberalFox said:

So essentially people who own cars that don't need to pay think this is fine and people who do have to pay don't think it is fair. 

Yes, I suppose that's the case.

 

It's an unusual scenario in some ways as so often it seems to be the case that systems enable rich folk to cheerily carry on polluting as they can handle the financial burden of doing so, whereas in this case the financial burden falls on those driving the older vehicles, who in a lot of cases will be the less well off.

 

The fairness or otherwise of that is an argument I'll save for another day, I think.....

[Brenfox]

I've fallen foul of this too. Due to roadworks I entered a bus lane unaware in 2021. The fine went to my old address. I ended up paying £269 to a debt collection agency who tracked me down. Today I've had a clean air zone charge for the same day totalling £269. I rarely visit anyway but I'm never entering the city of Birmingham again. Absolute robbers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[whoareyaaa]

what happens if the wind is blowing into the clean air from from a non clean air zone ? or can they control the wind also ?

[Mike Oxlong]

1 hour ago, whoareyaaa said:

what happens if the wind is blowing into the clean air from from a non clean air zone ? or can they control the wind also ?

I think if you break wind you’re exempt 

[The Year Of The Fox]

I had this issue at the start of last year. I knew I’d gone in it, but didn’t know I had to pay it (my car tax is £20 a year on a 14 plate vehicle) 

 

I appealed the £60 fine on the grounds that it was an honest mistake, and that had I known I’d have happily paid the £7 or whatever. 
 

The appeal got rejected (the cnuts) and got doubled to £120.

 

Never shopping there again

[Parafox]

22 hours ago, The Year Of The Fox said:

I had this issue at the start of last year. I knew I’d gone in it, but didn’t know I had to pay it (my car tax is £20 a year on a 14 plate vehicle) 

 

I appealed the £60 fine on the grounds that it was an honest mistake, and that had I known I’d have happily paid the £7 or whatever. 
 

The appeal got rejected (the cnuts) and got doubled to £120.

 

Never shopping there again

Obviously. THEY WANT YOUR MONEY.

 

I had a similar situation. I offered to pay retrospectively. Not a focking chance, mate.

 

Birmingham is a shithole anyway. 

 

I'd rather shop in Coalville.

 

Actually... erm...

[The Year Of The Fox]

1 minute ago, Parafox said:

Obviously. THEY WANT YOUR MONEY.

 

I had a similar situation. I offered to pay retrospectively. Not a focking chance, mate.

 

Birmingham is a shithole anyway. 

 

I'd rather shop in Coalville.

 

Actually... erm...

I’d rather go to a charity shop than get stabbed anyway