The number of Clean Air Zones, such as the London Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), in the UK could at least double by 2030, according to a prediction from Quadient, a leader in helping businesses create meaningful customer connections through digital and physical channels. A series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to councils already managing Clean Air Zones shows that this will increase the number of Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) councils’ issue by, on average, 32% - and more than double them immediately after introduction. Councils unprepared for this massive increase in physical mail will face slower communications, frustrated residents, and potentially millions in increased costs and uncollected penalty charges.
While local councils already issue PCNs for parking, bus lane, moving traffic and other vehicle offences, the introduction of Clean Air Zones will increase this to more than 450 a day. Councils that rely on manually creating and sending letters to residents will soon find this increases the risk of human error. The consequences would include PCNs being sent late, to the wrong address, or not at all; frustrating residents, making it harder or impossible for the council to recover the full penalty charge, and opening the risk of non-compliance with data protection laws. At the same time, creating and sending mail will become less efficient, and impact other mail councils need to send residents, from council tax bills to electoral roll updates. The total cost could come to millions – and counteract the additional £6,131 a day councils receive from Clean Air Zone PCNs.
“Given Clean Air Zones’ proven impact on public health, more and more councils will feel they have no choice but to implement them. However, since PCNs have to be sent via physical mail, councils need to ensure they can cope with the increase,” said Lee Dugdale, Business Development Director, Public Sector, Quadient. “This can’t be a reactive process – council data shows Clean Air Zones generate the most PCNs immediately after implementation, as drivers will be unaware of the new charges. At the same time, informing residents in advance that zones will be implemented will be a sizeable task in itself. And finally, potential changes to Royal Mail delivery services and charges will have their own impact. Taking action now will allow councils to implement Clean Air Zones without creating issues for themselves down the line.” Since ULEZ was implemented in 2019, there have been seven Clean Air Zones put in place across the UK – in Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth, Tyneside and Glasgow. Possible future locations include Basildon, Caerphilly, Cambridge and Manchester.
The impact of late or inaccurate PCN mail will not only be felt with the initial Notice. Follow-up letters – including notices that the charge has increased, and that the council has issued a warrant to an Enforcement Agency, will also likely be affected: slowing down the process and potentially opening up the council to legal action if it hasn’t followed the correct procedures at any point.
Similarly, keeping residents updated on Clean Air Zone implementations and charges is an essential task, with physical post a vital channel as almost two-thirds of UK consumers are more likely to open a letter than an email. This means more than a single notice of the council’s intentions, but encompasses entire consultation processes and regular updates – especially in cases where implementation of zones can be paused for review.
One potential solution is to automate the PCN and mail process – creating documents from templates, automatically filling in the correct information and address, and then automatically packing, labelling, franking and sending mail either centrally or via a third-party service provider. This not only makes the process more efficient, but reduces opportunities for human error, and creates a clear audit trail of how a PCN or other communication has been processed – crucial if the recipient raises a complaint.
“Thousands of drivers pass through Clean Air Zones every day, and the shift to cleaner vehicles won’t come overnight. While those councils who have had clean air zones in place for several years have reported reduced numbers of PCNs overall as driver habits change, the mountain of mail councils have to send will still remain,” added Dugdale. “Councils’ hands may be tied by the requirement to always send PCNs by post, but this still marks an opportunity to step back and ask if things can be done differently. Preparing for a sudden spike in mail won’t only help councils implement Clean Air Zones more effectively, but also ready them for other potential communication challenges.”
For more information about Quadient’s multi-channel document delivery solutions, visit https://www.quadient.com/en-gb/customer-communications/impress-platform/
Quadient UK press contact
Dominic Walsh, Spark Communications +44 (0)20 7436 0420 or quadient@sparkcomms.co.uk
