Glasgow LEZ Fine Wrongly Doubled After 90-Day Gap
In a Scottish low emission zone the penalty goes up each time the same vehicle is caught again in the same zone — £60, then £120, £240, £480, and £480 or £960 for a fifth time depending on the vehicle. That ladder resets. If the contravention happened 90 days or more after the last one you were held liable for, the law says it must be treated as a first contravention, so only the basic charge is due and no surcharge applies. Three details decide most of these cases. The 90 days is counted from one contravention to the next, not from the date the previous ticket was posted — so use the dates of the alleged events, which usually gives you a longer gap. Exactly 90 days counts: the rule is "90 days or more". And the ladder is per vehicle and per zone, so a contravention in a different vehicle, or in a different Scottish LEZ, is a first contravention in its own right however recently you were ticketed elsewhere.
Legal basis
Low Emission Zones (Emission Standards, Exemptions and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 (S.S.I. 2021/177) regulation 4(6) and 4(7) — where a contravention occurs "90 days or more after that person's most recent previous contravention for which they were found liable under section 6(2) of the 2019 Act in that particular vehicle in that particular zone", it "is to be treated as if it were a first contravention for the purposes of paragraphs (1) to (5)", so no surcharge under regulation 4(2) to 4(5) is payable; regulation 4(1) and schedule 4 column 3 (the initial penalty charge for a first contravention); regulation 4(8) (a penalty charge paid within 14 days beginning with the date of service of the penalty charge notice is reduced by 50 per cent); Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 section 6(2).
How to identify this in your case
The notice charges more than the basic amount, i.e. it applies a surcharge for a repeat contravention. Work out the gap between the date of THIS alleged contravention and the date of the previous contravention you were held liable for — not the dates the notices were issued. If that gap is 90 days or more, the surcharge should not be there. Also check the previous contravention was in the SAME vehicle and the SAME low emission zone: if either differs, this one is a first contravention regardless of the gap.
Sample appeal wording
Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.
To: [Council] Low Emission Zone Penalty Charges Re: LEZ penalty charge notice [PCN_NUMBER] — alleged contravention on [DATE_CURRENT] I make representations against the above penalty charge. The charge has been set at a repeat-contravention rate, applying a surcharge under regulation 4(2) to 4(5) of the Low Emission Zones (Emission Standards, Exemptions and Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2021. Regulation 4(6) applies where the relevant contravention occurs "90 days or more after that person's most recent previous contravention for which they were found liable under section 6(2) of the 2019 Act in that particular vehicle in that particular zone". Where it applies, regulation 4(7) provides that the relevant contravention "is to be treated as if it were a first contravention for the purposes of paragraphs (1) to (5)". The most recent previous contravention for which I was found liable in this vehicle in this zone occurred on [DATE_PREVIOUS_CONTRAVENTION]. The contravention now alleged occurred on [DATE_CURRENT], a gap of [DAYS] days. That is 90 days or more, so regulation 4(6) is satisfied and regulation 4(7) requires this contravention to be treated as a first contravention. No surcharge is payable and the charge falls to be recalculated on that basis under regulation 4(1) and column 3 of schedule 4. I note that the period is measured from the date of the previous contravention, not from the date on which the previous notice was issued or served. Please withdraw the surcharge and confirm the corrected amount, together with the position on the 50 per cent reduction in regulation 4(8). Yours faithfully, [Keeper Name]
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