Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello everyone,

I hope someone can help me with this as it's really stressing me out.

My father and I drove to birmingham for a wedding, the address of the place is 80 Bordesley Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B5 5QH.

I know both mine and my fathers vehicles are probably not compliant because we do pay ULEZ when we go to London.

So I checked whether the location I am driving to is within the Clean Air Zone boundries.

There's a website provided by brumbreathes -> https://www.brumbreathes.co.uk/CAZlocation

Here, you can put the address and it'll either show you results if the address is part of clean air zone or it'll say no results found.

I know this because when I put the aforementioned address and got no results, I also put a different address to make sure it's working correctly and it returned results.

To me it was clear that I was driving to an address outside the clear air zone boundries but to my surprise we received 4 PCNS a few weeks later

It appears that their system doesn't return that address but then if you zoom in manually, it shows that address being within the clean air zone boundries

I appealed on the basis that if they expect me to follow the rules then should atleast have a system in place that is accurate and allows drivers to know whether they're driving to a CAZ, but they got rejected as shown below (I have not received a rejection for all of them but I guess it's a matter of time)

Is there anything I can do? There was no intention to avoid paying a charge had I known I was driving there.

Sorry, I should have made it clear that those are my screenshots showing that 80 Bordesley Street is showing no results which is what I out and which is where I was going

I also put a different address to see if it works (2nd screenshot) and that shows being in CAZ

Even now, when I put the aforementioned address, it shows no results despite it being withing the CAZ boundaries

I think you'll struggle with this, unless you can prove you didn't pass clean air zone traffic signs.

If you did pass clean air zone road signs, how can you justify believing whoever runs "brumbreathes.co.uk" instead of obeying actual official traffic signs?

No doubt you only became aware of the contravention when the first PCN arrived followed by three more, correct ?

In cases like this, it has previously been successfully argued at adjudicators that not knowing a contravention was being committed until the first of several PCNs arrived, means a disproportionate and excessive penalty is being demanded. In most cases the adjudicators rule that the first PCN being paid and the others cancelled.

Your case is stronger if you can show your use of the website mislead you. As Birmingham haven't re-offered the discount you must now take them to adjudication, (the Traffic Penalty Tribunal), because it is pointless paying-up until an adjudicator has looked at your case, as the penalty remains the same with no additional costs.

No doubt you only became aware of the contravention when the first PCN arrived followed by three more, correct ?

In cases like this, it has previously been successfully argued at adjudicators that not knowing a contravention was being committed until the first of several PCNs arrived, means a disproportionate and excessive penalty is being demanded. In most cases the adjudicators rule that the first PCN being paid and the others cancelled.

Your case is stronger if you can show your use of the website mislead you. As Birmingham haven't re-offered the discount you must now take them to adjudication, (the Traffic Penalty Tribunal), because it is pointless paying-up until an adjudicator has looked at your case, as the penalty remains the same with no additional costs.

Actually so far I've only received 3, I am saying 4 because two cars were being driven at the same time, so it's probably just a matter of time I receive the fourth one.

I had no idea this was going to happen and I really help they can cancel it but my concern is that the adjudicator might say pay the first for each car, which is still a substantial amount.

Do I have to wait for something or can I appeal to an adjudicator? also can I make a single appeal giving the reference of the 3 PCNs and information about the missing one?

Is the address you checked correct? 80 Bordesley Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B5 5QH

The Royal Mail postcode checker, which should be authoritive, says the B5 5QH is for addresses on Pickford Street.

...

There's no argument about whether the vehicle is compliant or not. As I've explained earlier, I knew our vehicles were not compliant because we pay for ULEZ when we go to London so I checked for Birmingham too and it wasn't compliant. I would have paid the charge right away had I seen my destination being within CAZ, it's a no brainer paying £16 for 2 days fo each car instead of £120 for each car (even more now) but I was mislead by the website.

I agree with your points about it being the driver responsibility to make sure their vehicle is compliant or not.
What begs the question is why in situations like these, the same burden doesn't fall on the council.

Cities now have parking, street, CAZ, and all other kind of restrictions; if as an outsider, I have to check the map provided by them, then cross check it with the Royal postcode checker and also manually zoom in to triple check if the destination is within CAZ then I might as well walk around with a paper map.

Also I was checking google maps to understand how these CAZ sign post look like and I was shocked to see that some of these are on the side of the road on an average height pole. How does one spot them if, for example, a lorry is driving in front of them?

You don't have to wait for anything. Their letter of refusal gives you 28 days to pay, or to register an appeal at the adjudicators, so you need to get your skates on !

This is my appeal, can someone tell me whether is acceptable please?

Dear Adjudicator,

I am submitting this formal appeal in regards to Penalty Charge Notices I have received that claim I have entered a clean air zone (CAZ)

Firstly, I would like to highlight that I am appealing for 4 Penalty Charge Notices (2 for each vehicle)

My father and I drove in our vehicles to Birmingham to a wedding at the following address “Grand Botanical Suite, 80 Bordesley St, Birmingham B5 5PL”

Prior our departure, I checked if the location I was travelling to was within Clean Air Zone; this is because I was aware of its existence( although this was my first time driving there) and because we have travelled to London regularly, I am used to paying ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone).

The check is easy to carry out; I simply went on the government website and was prompted with a link that can be used to check if the address in question is within CAZ
https://www.brumbreathes.co.uk/CAZlocation

I used the provided website and inputted the address of the wedding hall “80 Bordesley street” and it showed no results, confirming that this address is not within CAZ

For sanity check, I also searched for an address online that falls within CAZ and searched for it in the map to check if it works correctly “3 Cannon street” and this time the map returned results, highlighting where that address is.

Following my checks on the government website, I was confident I don’t have to pay for anything.

However, to my surprise, several weeks after, I started receiving PCNs for entering CAZ.

Based on the circumstances, I believe the total number of contravention that the Birmingham council is charging us with is Four. That is because we arrived in Birmingham in the late afternoon of the 10th of August 2024; we left the same around 11pm that same night but got delayed because when we returned to our vehicles, my father’s vehicle’s tyre was flat and it took us a while to replace it, hence the second penalty charge is just a few minutes after midnight.

I have supplied screenshots showing the two addresses I have put in the Clean Air Zone checker provided by the GOV website.

I strongly believe these charges are unlawful on the grounds that if the driver is expected to follow rules, then the authority issuing certain rules must make sure that the information they provide are accurate and failing to do so should make them accountable.

When I appealed  to the Birmingham city council, it did not even consider the point I have made about their system not working correctly but were very quick to highlight that it’s a driver responsibility to follow the rules.
I will really appreciate it if you can consider the circumstance around which these charges and demand the council to cancel them.

Yours faithfully