oryx white
Travelling hopefully
Lifetime VIP Member
A quick cautionary tale.
Our 2016 T6 diesel is Euro 6 and exempt from ULEZ charge in London. But when we went into Bristol CAZ we were charged £9 a day. I appeared that Birmingham and Newcastle would also levy a charge. Foolishly, I assumed that that meant they had established schemes that would charge any diesel and muttered to myself about that not seeming unfair.
So when I had to hire a large diesel panel van to move bulky furniture to Bristol for our son, I went onto the CAZ site to pay the charge. But no, it was exempt! Only then did the penny drop. I looked at the V5C and it was not clear what emissions category DVLA held. So I raised a query with the DVLA online together with evidence of the correct Euro 6 category for our T6. They came back within 24 hours to say their records had been updated and should show as CAZ exempt within 48 hours. They also said we could reclaim any payments from the local authority.
I claimed from Bristol CAZ (a less slick process as their site is more complex to navigate and requires individual claims for each day charged). They have refunded for the last 6 months but say they will not refund earlier charges. "It is the drivers responsibility to maintain correct records with the DVLA" they state.
So the moral of the tale is to check the gov.uk congestion charge site to see if your vehicle comes up as chargeable or exempt. And if if it's chargeable in some and not in others, the DVLA records may be wrong. Get them changed.
Hopefully this might save another member some time and money ...
Our 2016 T6 diesel is Euro 6 and exempt from ULEZ charge in London. But when we went into Bristol CAZ we were charged £9 a day. I appeared that Birmingham and Newcastle would also levy a charge. Foolishly, I assumed that that meant they had established schemes that would charge any diesel and muttered to myself about that not seeming unfair.
So when I had to hire a large diesel panel van to move bulky furniture to Bristol for our son, I went onto the CAZ site to pay the charge. But no, it was exempt! Only then did the penny drop. I looked at the V5C and it was not clear what emissions category DVLA held. So I raised a query with the DVLA online together with evidence of the correct Euro 6 category for our T6. They came back within 24 hours to say their records had been updated and should show as CAZ exempt within 48 hours. They also said we could reclaim any payments from the local authority.
I claimed from Bristol CAZ (a less slick process as their site is more complex to navigate and requires individual claims for each day charged). They have refunded for the last 6 months but say they will not refund earlier charges. "It is the drivers responsibility to maintain correct records with the DVLA" they state.
So the moral of the tale is to check the gov.uk congestion charge site to see if your vehicle comes up as chargeable or exempt. And if if it's chargeable in some and not in others, the DVLA records may be wrong. Get them changed.
Hopefully this might save another member some time and money ...
