Clean Air Zone - Non-UK Vehicle Enforcement

<p>Local Authorities with high nitrogen dioxide concentrations as a result of road traffic have been required by Government to implement a CAZ to improve air quality. Bath &amp; North East Somerset Council is one such authority. The purpose of a CAZ is to incentivise drivers of more polluting vehicles to change their behaviour by charging them when they enter an area with high pollution, incentivising them either to use alternative modes of transport or upgrade to a cleaner vehicle. The Council&rsquo;s CAZ will charge buses, coaches, HGVs, LGVs/vans and taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) in central Bath. The charge level for non-compliant vehicles is &pound;100/day for buses, coaches and HGVs and &pound;9/day for LGVs/vans and taxis and PHVs and the PCN level is &pound;120, in addition to the outstanding charge. When vehicles drive in the CAZ, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras will record their licence plate information and a central system will check whether that vehicle meets the CAZ standards, with no further action taken against a vehicle if it is compliant. If the vehicle is not compliant, the service will check if there is a record of the vehicle keeper having paid for the vehicle to drive in the CAZ on the day it was recorded by the Council&rsquo;s ANPR cameras, or if there is a specific national or local exemption from a charge. If the charge has not been paid for after the payment window elapses, the system will then check if it is compliant with the standards of the zone (as set out above) using Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data. If keepers of non-compliant vehicles fail to pay a charge either in advance of their journey or by the end of the 7th day after they were seen in the CAZ, the keeper of the vehicle will be issued a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). This process for UK vehicles relies on the DVLA data at two points &ndash; to establish compliance and to access the vehicle&rsquo;s keeper details in the case where enforcement is necessary. The DVLA database only contains information relating to UK-registered vehicles so the Council wishes to procure a means to assess compliance of, or issue, PCNs to vehicles registered outside the UK. Without procuring a third party capable of providing compliance and keeper information for non-UK registered vehicles and then taking enforcement action, such vehicles would be able to operate in the CAZ without facing a penalty.</p>
<p>The Council is looking to establish a credible enforcement mechanism for non-UK vehicles and therefore create parity with the system for UK registered vehicles entering the Bath CAZ. For clarity, third parties would only receive information on vehicles that have not paid and that could not be identified by the DVLA database.</p>
<p>Interested parties should submit an expression of interest. Please note this for information only to allow the Council to establish likely level of interest should this procurement exercise take place in the future.&nbsp;</p>
<p>For further details please contact Mr Ashley Beighton at ashley_beighton@bathnes.gov.uk or call 01225 477522</p>