Warning more than 2m drivers a DAY could be wrongly fined under Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ scheme and UK speed cameras
MORE than two million drivers a DAY could be wrongly fined under Sadiq Khan's ULEZ expansion and UK speed cameras, a Whitehall chief has warned.
Professor Fraser Sampson, the government's surveillance camera tsar, said the ULEZ and national speed camera network has a three per cent error rate when reading number plates.
Registration plates are read between 75 and 80 million times a day by the surveillance camera networks and are expected to rise to 100 million by the end of 2023.
With a three per cent, error rate that equates to 2.4 million mistakes every day.
Currently around 4,000 drivers are issued fines per day relating to ULEZ.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Mark Harper, he warned this could mean there's a “significant risk” of drivers being unfairly and falsely fined.
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Professor Sampson added the incorrect fines could also breach data protection laws because City Hall staff would be acting on inaccurate information.
Britain's information boffin John Edwards has been asked to investigate.
Professor Sampson also warned that the ULEZ camera system, which covers around 15,400 roads or traffic lanes, is "staggeringly" easy for drivers to get around.
How can I tell if I've been caught by a speed camera?
Unlike what some people think, not all speed cameras flash.
However, this doesn't mean that the camera has run out of film, as they are digital so don't require this.
The one true way that you can tell if you've been caught by a speed camera, is when you receive a notice letter through the post.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy at the AA, told The Sun: “The only way drivers can be certain they have been caught speeding is when a ticket is put through the letterbox."
Cousens added: “Speed cameras are digital so no longer use film and not all of them flash when a speeding car has passed it.
"So there are sometimes no immediate signs that someone has been caught."
If you have been caught exceeding the speed limit, a fine should come through your door within 14 days, most of the time within five working days.
They could use cloned plates or plastic tape to hide real number plates and deceive the cameras.
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There's already evidence that up to one in 15 motorists are cheating the system through tampering with registration plates.
In August this year, London Mayor Sadiq Khan expanded the hated ULEZ scheme to cover the entirety of Greater London.
The zone operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 364 days a year - excluding Christmas Day on December 25.
Older vehicles that don't meet tight emissions standards have to pay £12.50 every day they are used within the ULEZ.
The charge runs from midnight to midnight, meaning drivers will be charged for two days if their journey starts before midnight and travels into the next day.
Generally, pre-2015 diesels and pre-2006 petrol cars, as well as pre-2007 motorbikes, face the fees but you can check if your vehicle meets the standards or not on the .
To drive in the ULEZ, petrol cars must meet the Euro 4 standards on emissions, and diesels, as well as larger vehicles, must meet the Euro 6 standards.
In his letter, Professor Sampson implored Mr Harper to urgently review the ULEZ camera network.
He said: “With drivers able to monitor their own vehicles outside their homes using live feed images between their phone and doorbell from anywhere on the planet, expecting the police and local authorities to rely on the number plate for critical functions such as traffic management and national security is no longer a quaint anachronism; it is increasingly looking like a strategic risk in itself."
On inaccurate fines, Mr Sampson added: “Such processing of inaccurate data by public authorities and those operating in the private sector using DVLA records brings significant risks of penalty notices being wrongly issued to innocent motorists as well as potentially breaching data protection laws."
A TfL spokesperson said: “The London-wide ULEZ is vital in tackling the triple challenges of air pollution, the climate emergency and congestion.
"The ULEZ camera network has been key in helping to support the effective operation of the ULEZ with air pollution in central London reduced by almost 50 per cent and in inner London by a fifth.
“Vehicle cloning is a criminal matter.
"When a vehicle is suspected of being cloned, there is an established process.
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"Where a vehicle has been cloned, if a penalty charge notice (PCN) was issued, it will be cancelled. The proportion of these cases is low and falling.
“We will continue to work to ensure our systems, which already involve human checks in addition to ANPR data, are as robust as they possibly can be.”