TfL’s bailiffs are chasing me for a stranger’s unpaid Ulez fines

Bailiffs turned up at my home to seize goods over four unpaid Ulez fines issued by Transport for London (TfL) that have nothing to do with me.

The saga began two months ago when I received four enforcement notices from CDER Group relating to a vehicle I have never owned.

I was told my address had been obtained from the DVLA, but the DVLA confirmed that the vehicle has never been registered to me or my address. I sent this confirmation to CDER, but they nevertheless ordered bailiffs to come to my house and told me enforcement could not be stopped.

I complained to TfL, which referred me back to CDER. CDER then informed me that TfL had rejected the evidence I had supplied.

For more than 25 years I have been repeatedly mistaken for another individual with the same name, resulting in debt collection activity by numerous organisations. I have spent years proving my identity and correcting mistakes, only for the same problems to happen again.

CW, Blackpool

It seems that the original penalty charge notices (PCNs) were sent to the address of the offending driver and, when they ignored them, tracing agents trawled citizens with the same name and decided you were a good fit.

Your labours to prevent bailiffs confiscating your belongings, including sending CDER 13 years of payslips and eight years of bills, took such a toll that you had to be signed off work.

Most gobsmacking of all is an email from TfL to CDER rejecting the DVLA’s written confirmation that the offending vehicle has never belonged to you.

“We cannot consider the evidence as valid,” TfL wrote, and it instructed CEDR to continue enforcement action.

In the meantime, you discovered that the credit reference agency TransUnion had incorrectly merged a stranger’s credit report with yours. This, it turned out, was the third time in three years that it had done so.

That explains why tracing agents came to your address because of a debt owed by a man with the same name in Yorkshire. You have now established that your address has, over the years, been given to tracing agents acting for more than 20 creditors, a few of whom have pursued you for debts accrued by your Yorkshire namesake.

This blunder by TransUnion does not excuse either CDER or TfL for failing legal obligations to ensure they had the right person before contacting you, and for failing to accept the evidence proving your innocence.

TfL, responding also for CDER, belatedly apologised when I intervened.

“Our contracted enforcement agents use credit searches to track down the person liable [for unpaid PCNs],” a spokesperson says. “From this search, it wrongly concluded that CW was the owner of this vehicle.”

TfL has now cancelled enforcement action, and CDER has paid you £500 in compensation for the “anguish” it now recognises it has caused.

TransUnion declined to comment while the Financial Ombudsman Service investigates a complaint you have lodged about its conduct.

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