Surrey drivers issued £15.5m in ULEZ penalties since 2019 as county council maintains refusal to install signs
Vehicles registered to Surrey addresses received 76,305 ULEZ penalty charge notices in 2024 alone, according to TfL figures, though more than two thirds of first-stage appeals from Surrey succeeded. TfL says it relies on boundary councils to put up warning signs on the approaches to the zone.
Transport for London figures released under a freedom of information request and reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) show £15.513m in penalties issued to Surrey addresses for not paying ULEZ charges since the zone began in 2019. TfL's data puts Surrey's share at around 3% of all ULEZ penalties issued over that period.
Surrey drivers received tens of thousands of ULEZ penalty charge notices in almost every year of the zone's existence. The annual total peaked at 76,305 in 2024.
The £15.5m is the value of penalties issued, not the amount paid. Since 2019, 43,664 appeals from Surrey reached TfL's first appeal stage. TfL accepted 29,931 of them, more than two thirds, and cancelled those fines. Over the same period, 2,049 Surrey appeals reached the tribunal stage, where 1,107 were refused. Some appeals at both stages are still pending.
The ULEZ charges high-polluting vehicles £12.50 a day. Penalties are typically £180, reduced to £90 if paid within 14 days. If a penalty charge notice is still unpaid 28 days after it was issued, a £270 charge certificate can follow.
Surrey County Council opposed the 2023 expansion of the ULEZ into outer London and refused to put up ULEZ signs on Surrey's roads. Its transport lead, Cllr Matt Furniss, told the LDRS that the council's position on signs and cameras would stay unchanged, saying "sadly none of the mitigation measures put forward to support Surrey residents have been put in place by the Mayor of London or Transport for London (TfL)."
Cllr Furniss said the council continues to "urge the Mayor and TfL to do what is right and extend the scrappage scheme outside of London for those that are impacted, provide exemption for key workers, and provide more and better bus routes between Surrey and London." The Mayor's scrappage scheme was offered to London residents and was not extended to the home counties.
A TfL spokesperson said it had worked with councils on London's boundaries ahead of the expansion and relies on their cooperation to put up ULEZ warning signs on the approaches to the zone. The spokesperson said there is extensive signage on the boundary itself, and that TfL ran a campaign aimed at Londoners and home counties drivers, including radio adverts, before the expansion.
TfL also said: "The ULEZ is not about making money. It is generating ever smaller net revenues as it matures, with the most recent data showing that more than 97 per cent of vehicles seen driving in the zone are compliant."
How THRIVE sources and checks its stories · Corrections, and how to report an error
TfGM says it has no plans for a Greater Manchester congestion charge
TfL proposes zero-emission rule for newly licensed London private hire vehicles from July 2028
Cargo bike convoy to press London Mayor for Dutch-style zero-emission freight zone
The Tuesday briefing
The week's fleet numbers and news, every Tuesday morning. Free.
One email a week. Unsubscribe in a click.
Named in this story? You have a right of reply: email hello@thrivefleet.co.uk and a challenged claim will be marked under review while we check it.
Got a story, or a question about this one? Contact the newsroom. We read everything that comes in. With the volume of fleet news, not everything can run, but a story with a number, a date or a decision in it stands a good chance.