London taxi driver faced fines of ‘thousands of pounds’ following honest Congestion Charge mistake

A London taxi driver was left having ‘sleepless nights’ after racking up fines totalling ‘thousands of pounds’ following an honest licensing mistake.

The concerned cabbie faced huge money worries due to receiving a raft of Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) for driving in the capital’s Congestion Charge zone with a number plate that wasn’t recognised by the transport regulators Transport for London (TfL).

The problem came as the cabbie purchased a second-hand taxi which previously had a private registration number attached. The swap back to the original vehicle registration plates meant that the taxi licensing plate needed updating at the NSL too.

Wheelchair accessible black cabs are exempt from paying the Congestion Charge in London.

Anthony Street, LTDA Executive, wrote in TAXI magazine: “A driver bought a new cab with a private number plate and nine months left on its licence. When they changed back to the original number plate, the driver didn’t realise they needed to attend an NSL centre to get a new cab licence that matched the cab’s registration.

“Instead, they went to work and started to receive PCNs for using bus lanes and entering the congestion zone, as the cab was technically not licensed. They tried to deal with the PCNs themselves, thinking they were issued mistakenly by TfL.

“By the time I met with the driver, they had a bundle of tickets totalling thousands of pounds and were having sleepless nights, worrying how they would pay them."

Street continued: “It took some time, being pushed around different departments within TfL (I am sure you’ve all been there), but I eventually managed to resolve this honest mistake.

“The tickets ended up only costing this LTDA member his subscription fee, which works out at just over £3 per week after deductions, a bargain by anyone’s reckoning, and a life saver at a time when every penny counts!”