A man has claimed his dog ate his ULEZ fines after racking up several overdue penalties for his motorbike.
Del Hudson, 54, from Richmond, West London, said he did not think the 2000-plate Honda Fireblade would not be ULEZ compliant when the zone was expanded in August last year.
As a result, he was fined and paid up straight away but assumed future fines would be collected automatically after receiving an email from Transport for London informing him he had registered for a London Road User Charging account.
Mr Hudson was fined four more times with his penalties skyrocketing after he claimed he was not aware of them and blamed his faithful mutt for eating two of them.
One particular fine soared to £2,000, while TfL had even issued a warrant which could have seen bailiffs come for his bike, but he told GB News he “just didn’t deal with it” due to stress.
He added that the fines had increased his depression and anxiety which he had suffered “since Covid”.
If all seven of the fines he was issued had risen to £2,000, they would have totalled half of his annual wage.
Despite the unlikely story involving his dog, TfL agreed to waive the penalties entirely in a “goodwill gesture”.
A TfL statement read: “We are sorry for any distress caused to Mr Hudson. Following a review of his case, it is apparent that the fines issued to him were correct and followed our standard procedures in the absence of an Auto Pay account.
“As a gesture of goodwill, we have cancelled the outstanding fines and have advised him on how to set up Auto Pay.”
But Mr Hudson was still not satisfied, saying he believed the waiving of the fines was in an effort to make TfL “look good” and had “something to do with the election”.
He said that as a result, he would not be voting for the current Mayor of London Sadiq Khan in the upcoming election saying he was “not helping matters in any form or fashion”.
