London ULEZ Anyone?

[JamesL]

Hi All, I seem to have been off the forum for a while, multiple distractions and I should pay more attention.

Back in 2019 I got a homologation letter from BMW, very fancy, sent that and my V5C to TFL and got a letter back saying my 2001 1150GS was indeed exempt from the ULEZ and they'd put it on their system.

I've been into the old ULEZ a couple of times since and nothing from TFL, so great. Then today I get a Mr Angry saying I've been in the newly expanded ULEZ and they'll let me off this time (thanks) but not again. So I've loaded my docs to their system again and got a reply back saying tough it doesn't meet the requirements but with no other explanation. So - has anyone an idea of what's going on? Have they changed the requirements or are they not reading what they've been sent? The bike requirement seems to be Euro 4 and the BMW letter says the bike emits 0.03g/km of NOx which is good enough for Euro 6 according to the RAC, so what am I missing?

Meanwhile as it's an automated system I guess I'll just keep resubmitting until they say yes...

Thanks all! James

[Dids]

I actually live in the newly expanded ULEZ zone and, like you, had a homologation letter from BMW back in 2019 for my 2003 R1150RS.
Been happily wandering around both the new and the old ULEZ zones with no grief from TFL.
So, it's probably a glitch in their system, I guess...
I've not been very impressed with the way that ULEZ was introduced, Sadiq Khan brought the implementation date forward by a year which meant that there wasn't really enough preparation time. In my case TFL initially said my R1150RS was fine for ULEZ, then 6 months before it came in they changed their minds. I then bought a 2007 R1200ST which would definitely be OK. A few days after I bought the R1200ST I found out about the BMW homologation letter thing.
Consequently I now have two lovely BMWs...
Every cloud has a silver lining

[JamesL]

Thanks Dids - I too have 2 BMWs but #2 is a 1991 R100RS so I haven't bothered even trying for it.

I got there in the end though. Reading between the lines, the standard 'submit your details' route seems to be computer assessed so if what you send in doesn't fit perfectly with their world view its just rejected. I got on to the chat function, which actually seemed to be a person, who said submit again, but via the Enquiry button. Which I did, attached my letter and V5C yet again, and someone seems actually to have read it and I've been told I'm OK (again).

So, quite a relief! It must have been a systems glitch in the first place, and it's a bit sad that yet again you're guilty until proved innocent. But I was impressed with their turnaround - they say allow 10 days but it was only a few hours, even with the manual review.

So, fingers crossed for next time... James