Council chiefs in Bristol have apologised to motorists across the country for sending warning letters about the imminent Clean Air Zone, even though they were nowhere near the city at the time.
Several people from as far away as west Wales, Merseyside and Sussex contacted Bristol Live last week to complain that they had received letters warning they could be fined if they drive through the Clean Air Zone again after November 30 - even though they had not been in Bristol at all.
After Bristol Live broke the story of the gaffe on Monday morning, the council has now issued an apology to those drivers - although it did not address their principle complaint, that they had spent hours informing the police and the DVLA their car number plate had been cloned, when in fact it was the fault of the cameras installed by the city council.
Read more: Camera error sends Clean Air Zone warning letters to drivers who've never been to Bristol
Now, Bristol City Council defended the issuing of letters to motorists who went through the CAZ during three weeks in September, and said the letters were acting as a ‘final notice’ to motorists who are in non-compliant, polluting vehicles, that they will soon be liable to be charged.
“Bristol City Council has a legal and moral duty to improve our air quality,” a spokesperson said. “We want to communicate with and raise awareness to Bristol residents and businesses, but also prospective visitors from across the country, about the upcoming Clean Air Zone. The letters that have been sent out to owners of non-compliant vehicles that have recently travelled through the Bristol Clean Air Zone, act as a final notice to motorists before charges are introduced on 28 November 2022.
“The data collected to generate a list of names and addresses to send these letters to, was collected over a three week period earlier in September 2022 by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras set up within the zone and around its boundary. These cameras have been in place for some time, allowing our teams time to test their functionality and refine camera settings over time. We have been carrying out work to optimise performance of the cameras over the last few weeks and have more confidence in the images the cameras are capturing now than during the three week period in September. We sincerely apologise if you have received this letter by mistake.
“If anyone is worried that their number plate has been cloned they should contact the DVLA,” she added. “As per the letter, we have outlined some further advice and guidance about these letters in our Frequently Asked Questions section of our website here,” she said.
One of those drivers who had been sent a letter by mistake was Ian Hughes, a motorist from St Helens on Merseyside. He said he had billed the council for hundreds of pounds for the time lost that he spent informing the DVLA that his car reg plate had been cloned, only to discover that Bristol City Council had admitted there was a fault with the technology in the cameras that meant a vehicle similar to his registration number - with two Ys - had gone through the cameras, but he got the letter instead.
Read next:
- Where the borders for the scheme will fall street by street
- When will the CAZ charges operate
- Clean Air Zone start date finally announced
- Clean Air Zone fee and how people will be charged
- Bristol Clean Air Zone timeline: the story so far as start date finally announced
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