According to five European governments, hundreds of thousands of EU citizens have been unfairly fined for driving in London's Ulez (an acronym for Ultra Low Emissions Zone) in what has been described as "one of the largest data breaches in the history of the world". EU".
The Guardian reports this, revealing that Transport for London (Tfl) has been accused by EU countries of having illegally obtained names and addresses to issue 320,000 fines from 2021. With Brexit, access to the data of EU residents is prohibited in London.
For Belgium, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands the data was obtained illegally by agents on behalf of Tfl.
The Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson in the London Assembly called for an immediate investigation, saying the problem could damage the British capital's reputation.
In France, more than 100 fined drivers have launched a lawsuit claiming their details were obtained fraudulently, while Dutch lorry drivers are taking legal action against TfL over £6.5 million in fines they claim were issued illegally.
According to Belgian MP Michael Freilich, who investigated the matter on behalf of his constituents, TfL is treating European drivers like a "cash cow", using illegally obtained data to issue unjustified fines.
Many of the fines were issued to drivers who visited London in Ulez-compliant vehicles and did not know they needed to be registered with TfL's collection agent, Euro Parking, at least 10 days before their visit.
According to Ulez rules, failure to register does not constitute an infringement.
Some low-emission cars have been misclassified as heavy-duty diesel vehicles and fined under the separate Low Emission Zones (LEZ) regime, which carries fines of up to £2,000 a day.
Hundreds of motorists protested that the fines came weeks after the prepayment and appeal deadlines had expired.
A French driver has been fined £25,000 for breaching Lez and Ulez regulations - despite his minibus being exempt.
Freilich asked ministers to raise the issue during the current Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU.
"This is probably one of the biggest privacy and data breaches in the history of the EU, but so far no concrete action has been taken, while the blame is being passed on to the drivers," he said.
TfL said that despite the absence of individual data sharing agreements with EU countries, "local laws" allow authorities to share vehicle owner information with the UK for enforcement purposes. traffic.
However, EU countries say national laws only allow the UK to access personal data for criminal offences, not civil breaches.
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