Bradford city council
Hi i am new to the ftla. I purchased a euro 6 vehicle and a month later passed the vehicle as a private hire with Solihull council. I live in Birmingham and I regulalrly visit family in bradford. My vehicle being euro 6 is exempt as I checked CAZ checker website. I checked several times including after passing the vehicle as a private hire. However, I received a ticket and I appealed as I assumed this was a mistake, as my vehicle was euro 6. After sending my appeal I also called bradford council helpline and they explained to me that I had received the ticket as my vehicle was private hire. I explained I had already been several times to bradford as I had family there, and I checked online many times and website was showing my vehicle was exempt. The advisor explained sometimes record updating can sometimes take a little while. Anyway, my vehicle when purchased was exempt as it was euro 6 and euro 6 is exempt brom bradford caz. when i passed my vehicle as a private hire it was exempt as it was euro 6. However, now records had been updated, my vehicle was not exempt. I quickly checked and yes my vehicle was no longer exempt.
https://www.bradford.gov.uk/media/5716/caz-charge-table.pdfthe strange thing is euro 6 hackney carriage is exempt, as is significantly more polluting euro 6 buses, coaches, minibuses, LGVs and HGVs, but a private hire is not. If my vehicle was a people carrier I would be exempt. Also all private cars are exempt, regardless of age or pollutant emmission classification. I tried to explain I was a private hire driver in Solihull and not bradford, and I was here only to see family. In other words I was here as a private car. but I was told I will always be classed as a private hire driver, even if i am not working. I argued other caz including other C zones exempted my vehicle. I was told bradford city council was not a normal C zone but a C+ zone. later I checked bradford information online and bradford city council class the caz as a C+ CAZ (meaning they have different charges for private hire only).
Anyway a few days ago I received my appeal rejection. I am now going to appeal to traffic penalty tribunal. I have checked online and normally my vehicle would be exempt as my car is euro 6.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/driving-in-a-clean-air-zone#cities-with-clean-air-zonesbut additional information warns councils may have differnt rules for taxi and private hire, just checked online and no other council charges my vehicle, only Bradford, also bradford is the biggest caz in the uk, between 3 times and 10 times bigger than other caz. I am angry as my vehicle is exempt everywhere except bradford and I was not aware my vehicle was not exempt even though I checked a few times. do i have any grounds ? also I have received 2 charge certificates for 2 other offences but I did not receive PCNs. I was in spain during that timeframe but I did not see anything other than the above ticket which I am appealing
