Council officials told a driver from Sussex that they would not receive any more Clean Air Zone fines in error - but only put a temporary block on their number plate for a couple of months. And now a formal complaint against Bristol City Council for the blunder has been upheld, and council chiefs have promised for a second time that the couple would no longer be bothered by penalty notices and fines from 140 miles away and a city they’ve only visited once.
But the respite might only be for a few years. Even though they promised never to bother Andrew and Fiona Robison again, Bristol City Council has had to tell them they are only exempt from the fines sent in error for three years - that is the maximum any vehicle in Britain can be flagged as exempt under the Clean Air Zone systems nationally.
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Mr and Mrs Robison’s vehicle does fail the emissions tests and is liable to pay Bristol’s Clean Air Zone - if they ever drove to the city from their home three hours away in West Sussex. They haven’t been to Bristol for decades, but kept receiving £120 fines for breaching the Clean Air Zone.
Initially baffled, they worked out that a completely different car was being driven around Bristol with an almost identical number plate. And because that car is CAZ-compliant, its driver was, and presumably still is, blissfully unaware of the hassle they are causing them.
That Bristol car is a completely different model and make, but shares a very similar number plate. The Robisons’ car’s plate contains a letter G, while the Bristol car’s plate has a C instead - and a tiny plastic cover over a bolt fixing the number plate to the car in the middle of the C has come off, which means that some of the Clean Air Zone cameras and computer systems think it is a ‘G’, and therefore sends a fine to the Robisons each time they drive past a CAZ camera.
The Robisons complained, and had to appeal each and every fine they received after the Clean Air Zone was activated in late November 2022. By February this year, Bristol Live reported on their unusual situation, and the city council acknowledged there was an issue.
Eventually, after making an official complaint to Bristol City Council, they had their first reassurance that officers at the council understood the issue, and had made sure it would not happen again.
When it did - four times in a month in May - the Robisons made another complaint to the council, complaining that their original complaint had not been dealt with properly.
The council’s complaints case manager investigated and found the couple had been misled. She found the reassurance that there would be no more penalty charge notices was made ‘on the basis that your vehicle registration was added to the 'permitted vehicle list' so that it doesn't trigger a PCN’.
“That vehicle exemption provided was temporary, and when it expired, PCNs continued to be issued," the council admitted. "Once this issue was discovered, your vehicle was again marked exempt and placed on the permitted vehicle list, this time for an extended period. I am informed that exemptions cannot be indefinite, but in your case, it has been extended to the maximum allowable, which is 31 January 2027.
“Once again, all the PCNs issued to you in error have been cancelled. I am very sorry that you continued to receive PCNs, and for the obvious frustration and inconvenience caused to you. This is not the standard of service Bristol City Council aims to provide, and I do uphold your complaint,” she added.
