Bristol driver ‘faces losing his home’ after being fined for driving into Clean Air Zone
Motorist fears he will have to sell his house to pay £4,000 fines after driving into the city’s Clean Air Zone 30 times without realizing it
- Henry Franklin, 36, drove into the CAZ for work between February and March
- But he was fined for the trips and fears he will lose everything to pay the fine
A man fears he will have to sell his house and lose his job after entering a clean air zone up to 30 times without realizing it.
Henry Franklin, from Bristol, believed his car complied with council rules when he entered the city’s CAZ for his job in Hewish.
But the 36-year-old is in danger of losing everything after being fined £4,000 so far for his travels over the past month.
Now he has to cough up the huge fine and buy a new engine that complies with the regulations, or pay more fuel for longer, gas-guzzling rides to avoid the CAZ.
“I live from paycheck to paycheck. If all these fines are upheld I’m looking at around £4,000 to pay,” he said.
“That definitely means I have to sell my car and quit my job. It will probably also mean selling and leaving Bristol.’
He added: ‘I felt angry, frustrated and tired when I realized I was going to be fined. This new system is confusing for a number of reasons. I can’t fathom why they chose the area they have for the CAZ other than to generate a lot of fines.
‘A clean air zone in a densely populated area like Easton, St Paul’s or Bedminster. But they opt for the centre, which is relatively sparsely populated.’
Henry criticized Bristol City Council for only issuing fines after the six-day grace period had expired.
He said he now drives a longer route to avoid the CAZ charge, meaning his commute is “much longer” and now “worse for the environment”.
He added: ‘I felt frustrated buying a new car to go to a new job and despite my best efforts the council has designed a system that is difficult to understand.
“However, I will add right away that I have appealed every PCN (criminal case) I have had so far, but the municipality has not yet acted on it.”
Bristol City Council is reviewing the ‘case and appeals made’.
Daily charges for cars in the CAZ cost £9 for those who pay in advance, with signs warning motorists about to enter the area.
The total cost of driving in Bristol’s CAZ without paying is £129 per day after the grace period ends on January 8, or £69 if the fine is paid within 14 days.
News of Henry’s plight comes as Birmingham’s own CAZ went haywire last week after it emerged that nearly 70,000 fines had been written off by the city council.
Nearly 50,000 CAZ fines have been successfully challenged by drivers since the launch of Birmingham’s controversial scheme, which will net the council a whopping £50m profit by the end of this year.
The council has backed down and quashed a massive 48,256 fines after motorists refused to pay because they believed they were being unfair – the authority has given up chasing another 20,000.
The number of fines reversed is only up to the end of last year – meaning the exact total is likely even higher. In addition, fines that have only recently been appealed are still pending.
In total, nearly 70,000 fines have been written off by municipal bosses, including fines that have been successfully challenged. The huge number of fines canceled by the authority again raises questions about the functioning of the CAZ.
It means that since the launch of the CAZ in June 2021, an average of about 2,700 PCNs have been canceled each month – with a higher likelihood of them still being processed as of late 2022.
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