Here’s the lowdown on what’s happening with TfL and whether you’ll get refunded for your parking fines.
Here’s some interesting news for those of you who choose to drive around the capital, and more specifically those of you who’ve been given parking tickets by TfL in recent years. Transport for London may have to pay back half a million parking fines if they lose a case they’ve been fighting in high court.
What’s the Deal?
It’s all to do with TfL’s right to use CCTV to seek out drivers parked illegally and issue parking fines. The illegal parking in question is any done on London’s red routes, sets of roads that are crucial for traffic flow.
If TfL loses the case they’ll have to pay back nearly £17 million in parking fines issued over 2023. That’s not all: lawyers are pushing for them to backdate the fines all the way to 2020, amounting to around 500,000 tickets.
But Why?
This is where it starts getting legal. The case all stems back to a rewording of the rules of parking in the designated parking bays on red route roads. This changed things because it made the legality of parking unclear. The rewording happened in 2020 which is why lawyers will push for the refunding of fines to be backdated until then.
There’s no word on when the ruling will be made but watch this space and we’ll let you know more as the news unfolds.
Food for Thought
TfL Parking Fines cost £160 but can be halved if you pay within a certain window of time. TfL has said that they put the money they raise in parking fines into improving the transport network for everyone, as well as transport schemes like subsidised transport for children and the elderly around London.
If this money gets returned are we taking away from what is essentially ourselves? Or is this some kind of ploy to tug at the heartstrings of a jury?
TfL Parking Fines: Practical Information
When: if this happens depends on the result of a court case – there’s no date on when that will be concluded yet.
