Since 2021 I have tried and failed to see if I could integrate an electric vehicle to my business model, because ULEZ got introduced in Glasgow last year and is now live in Dundee, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, too. I finally bought a ULEZ compliant Diesel vehicle. It cost me double of what I usually spend on a replacement car and it may have meant the end of Starfish Travel as I also had issues securing a loan. Fortunately I could raise those funds privately.
I sold my perfectly usable previous vehicle at a loss BUT I thought I was sorted. Being German I try hard to adhere to the rules. Until a few weeks ago I received a fine from Glasgow City Council for driving through ULEZ in a non-compliant vehicle.
I used the ULEZ compliance checker and strangely my registration was non-compliant. We had checked it previously and it was compliant. The only thing which changed was the registration as we put a private plate on the car. I checked again with the old registration and, indeed, that was compliant.
I appealed against the charge, supplying both V5 documents clearly showing the same VIN and engine number but was told I needed a Certificate of Conformity (COC) from my manufacturer.
I duly phoned Mercedes who raised w a job and told me it would take 3 weeks, which took me beyond Glasgow City Council’s deadline.
Today, I received a sms from Mercedes Benz informing me that they would be unable to supply a COC as the vehicle was not a recall. I have spoken to a lot of Mercedes staff members until I finally found out that I could request a “Euro Status Letter”. I did for the fee of £30 (half the fine) but it was still cheaper than the COC at £216.
Mercedes has on numerous occassions confirmed that this vehicle has a Euro 6 and is compliant. May I add, that the German equivanlent to a V5 simply states which Euro the vehicle is.
Has this happed to you or something similar? Perhabs we should all get together?
