Dead drivers fined in city's traffic schemes
Isabella Harris"Deceased" drivers are among the thousands of people hit with a city congestion charge and low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) fines, new data reveals.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has found through a freedom of information request that 13 penalty notices (PCNs) in Oxford's £5 congestion charge zones or LTNs were cancelled due to vehicle owners being dead.
The figures do not show the circumstances under which vehicles belonging to "deceased" people had been driven into the restricted zones, but give reasons why PCNs were voided.
Since their introduction, about 257,000 fines have been handed out to motorists who violated the rules of the schemes.
The dataset lists 64 causes for close to 14,000 fines being scrapped by Oxfordshire County Council.
Two PCNs were cancelled as the vehicle owner was in prison, and one as it was a diplomatic vehicle.
Ambulances had 36 fines revoked, the police had 16, two for the fire service, four due to the driver being a doctor on call, along with more than 1,000 for taxis, and more than 4,000 vehicles without a registered keeper.
Disabled drivers, people with medical reasons, untraceable and foreign vehicle owners received cancellations.
More than 5,000 PCNs were voided for a range of permit errors and for motorists who had paid for entry.
LDRS reported that the number of fines issued for the duration of each scheme up to 30 April was:
- 205,691 for the congestion charge, which started on 29 October 2025, with 175,000 fines given in the last four and a half months;
- 51,209 for the the LTNs, since the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras went live in May 2024.
On 7 January, the county council stated it had issued 31,588 fines since the congestion charge inception.
An estimated £5.2m surplus created by Oxford's congestion charge will be used to pay for a new hospital express bus services from the park and rides.
Thames Street has seen the highest number of fines of the six congestion charge charging points with 81,493.
It has also seen the most PCN cancellations, with more than 5,000, or about six per cent of the total.
The temporary scheme is set to be replaced in August when the Botley Road reopens, and traffic filters are introduced.
The cameras will remain in place, and the traffic filters will operate at the same locations and times.
