Hello
My car was returned to the finance company MoneyBarn and collected by British Car Auctions at 14:19pm on 25th July 2025 (I know this because of the collection report). It is a 2015 diesel, therefore chargeable in the zone, so I had an AutoPay account set up with Tfl for the occasional time we went into the ULEZ zone (last one being March 2025).
I get the AutoPay statement emails every month, but don't check them as they're always £0 because we don't go into the zone very often, but imagine my surprise when Tfl tried to take £50 out of my account on August 28th 2025. I immediately stopped the DD because I had no idea what it related to and logged into Tfl AutoPay to see that someone had been driving my old car about London - once just after midnight! It was caught on camera at the following times:
25 July, 15:29 – Whalebone Lane North
26 July, 18:01 – Longbridge Road
27 July, 00:02 – Vicarage Lane
28 July, 05:50 – Oxlow Lane
BCA didn't mention that the car was going into London immediately after collection and because I use the AutoPay service so infrequently I didn't think to immediately take it off.
I have spoken to TFL and apparently they won't refund the charges, as I didn't take it off AutoPay and in the T&Cs that makes me liable. I'm not sure that stands up to scrutiny, because if I wasn't on AutoPay and could show I didn't own the vehicle, they would remove the charges.
I'd very much appreciate any advice offered.
Many thanks in advance
