Council scraps driver’s CAZ fines

A MAN in his 80s who was facing having to pay thousands of pounds in Clean Air Zone fines and costs he didn’t know he was racking up has had them all wiped by Bristol City Council.

And the council has even paid Tony Wardle back more than £1,000 in fines that he paid after bailiffs visited him, after his plight was reported last month.

Mr Wardle’s story was reported across the country after our sister website Bristol Live revealed that a mix-up at the DVLA in Swansea meant his car was still registered to an old address.

The 84-year-old, who still has to work a full-time job at the offices of animal welfare organisation Viva! in St Pauls, told the DVLA he had moved to Taunton two years ago and the address on his driving licence was changed, but not for his car.

So when the Clean Air Zone started, he drove his noncompliant car around 300 yards into and out of the CAZ zone at the bottom of the M32 on Newfoundland Way, but did not realise it – because he was not receiving the fines.

Mr Wardle said that he would have driven a different way home each night to avoid the CAZ as soon as he received the first fine, but it was not until more than six months later that he received a bundle of letters from his old address in Chepstow, with dozens of fines, and then court and bailiff letters for unpaid fines he knew nothing about.

He said he found out the full extent of the situation from

Bristol City Council – and paid more than £1,000 of the first and most immediate fines, after bailiffs paid him a visit – but tried to talk to someone at City Hall to explain the situation, but got nowhere.

In January, we reported on his plight, and described how he faced spending his life savings on the fines and the rest of his life in debt to repay them.

Now, Mr Wardle has thanked the council after he received a letter that not only told him all the outstanding fines had been withdrawn, but also promising to give back the money he’d already paid.