Authorities in Belgium have blasted Transport for London’s debt collection agents over alleged breaches of data protection laws, with thousands of EU drivers being hit with fines.
The Ultra Low Emission Zone was expanded in August to include Greater London and hundreds of thousands of extra drivers potentially facing fines.
The Belgian ministry of transport has now claimed that thousands of fines for breaches of the Ulez may have been sent unlawfully to EU-registered vehicles.
UK authorities no longer have access to personal data of citizens living in the European Union for non-criminal enforcement after Brexit.
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Despite this, drivers in the EU have reportedly received fines, some of which cost them thousands of pounds, for not registering their details with TfL.
A Belgian court has accused a collections agent who works with TfL of “abusing its legal powers”, with more than 20,000 drivers estimated to have been affected.
The details were then passed to a parking agent for UK enforcement, with Belgian MPs calling on the Government to take action.
TfL, speaking on behalf of the parking agent, said it was the decision of individual licensing authorities to decide whether to release keeper details if the request is warranted.
It added: “Any company working on our behalf is contractually required to ensure that data is processed in line with the relevant data protection legislation and no Belgian driver data has been shared with us or [the parking agent] since the ruling by the Belgian National Chamber of Judicial Officers came into effect,” the Guardian reported.
Data shows that more than 400,000 drivers avoided penalties for being caught in the capital’s Ulez between January and September because TfL was not able to access their information from the DVLA database.
The TfL website states that vehicles registered outside of the UK still need to meet emissions standards when driving in London.
This applies to the Ultra Low Emission Zone, Low Emission Zone and motorists must abide by the Congestion Charge and the Direct Vision Standard HGV Safety Permit.
The website tells drivers to check their vehicle if it is eligible to avoid the daily fee and register with Transport for London.
Drivers must register their vehicles with TfL if it is listed as not meeting Ulez standards but can provide evidence that it does meet emissions requirements.
There have been instances of European drivers being hit with fines for travelling inside the expanded Ulez charging area.
One motorist was fined almost £11,000 after driving his French rental car in London for three days, despite it complying with the TfL emissions standards.
Because the vehicle had not been registered with Transport for London, the car was hit with four penalty charge notices.
The driver, Christian Ducarre, said his fine was more expensive because the hire car was classed as a heavy diesel vehicle.
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Foreign drivers must register with TfL before driving in the zone
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This resulted in him also being penalised with the Low Emission Zone charge, with fines potentially rising up to £2,000 a day.