Drivers 'face bailiffs at door' after breaking Clean Air Zone rule

Drivers have been warned to expect "bailiffs" at the door after breaking a new Clean Air Zone rule. Bristol City Council is owed £32million in unpaid CAZ fines, part of a greater £229million total debt owed to the local authority over the past year.

On its website, the concil says: "If your vehicle is not exempt or compliant and you've driven in Bristol's Clean Air Zone (CAZ) and not paid the charge, either £9 or £100 depending on the vehicle, a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) will be issued. This is in addition to the outstanding CAZ charge.

"You need to pay the PCN and the outstanding Bristol Clean Air Zone daily charge. You'll need your Clean Air Zone PCN number. This will begin BS5 and can be found on your PCN letter. You have 28 days to pay your Clean Air Zone PCN and the Clean Air Zone charge.

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"You'll get a 50% discount if you pay your Clean Air Zone PCN within the first 14 days from the date of service. The discount only applies to the PCN amount and not the Clean Air Zone charge which you'll need to pay in addition to the PCN charge."

It adds@ "You'll have to pay the full charge if you don't pay or appeal your PCN within 14 days of the date of service of the notice. Your PCN letter tells you the date of service. If after 28 days of the date of service, you haven’t either paid or appealed the PCN you may get another reminder letter to pay the outstanding charge.

"If the PCN remains unpaid you may get a Charge Certificate which increases the original amount due by 50%. If you do not pay the PCN now you may get a text message reminder. If the PCN still remains unpaid then it may be registered with the Traffic Enforcement Centre at the County Court and an Order for Recovery issued. This will add a £9 court registration fee to the total outstanding amount.

"Should the PCN still remain outstanding we may instruct our bailiffs to recover the money you owe. You'll also have to pay the bailiff's fees." The council documents read: “Due to the nature of the processing of Clean Air Zone PCNs, not all PCNs for contraventions that occur in a given financial year are issued in that financial year.

“An estimate is made at year-end of the PCNs yet to be issued, and these are included in the year-end liability. Data in the tables above represents that estimated debt position at each year end. Actual PCN numbers will be different.”