'I sold my car, now I'm on the hook for ￡1,400 of congestion charges' The Times Holly Thomas your money matters 'I sold my car, now I'm on the hook for ￡1,400 of congestion charges' new TFL called in debt collectors before it thought to tell our reader that his old car was still linked to his payment account. Our consumer champion helps out Holly Thomas Tuesday October 20 2026, 6.00am BST , The Times Listen 0:00 / · 8:18 min Share Share this article Email Twitter Facebook Link Save T ransport for London's debt collection agency is chasing me for more than ￡1,400 in unpaid congestion charges relating to a car I sold last year. I created a TfL Auto Pay account years ago, but never used it. After I sold the car, the new keeper's regular congestion charges were automatically assigned to my account. I did not find out about this, however, until TfL's debt collection agency, CDER Group, contacted me via email with a demand for payment. Most commented 1 Russian strikes 'leave half a million Ukrainian homes without power' Russia-Ukraine war 390 comments In June I noticed a ￡276 charge on my credit card from TfL. I assumed this was a random mistake and when I queried it with TfL I was told to dispute it with my bank and block future payments. Top stories 1 Clodagh McKenna: I always get up at 6am on holiday. I love the calm Inspiration 2 16 of the best safaris in Africa Africa I did this and heard nothing more. Unknown to me, TfL attempted to collect further amounts from this credit card for many more journeys made. I have formally disputed each and every charge, providing evidence that I am no longer the registered keeper of the car. But my appeal seems to be falling on deaf ears. TfL insists I am liable, which feels totally wrong. As a pensioner with no previous debt history, this situation is causing me considerable worry. I would be extremely grateful if you can help. Neil, Merthyr Tydfil Advertisement Mum was half a wheel over an invisible line — can we fight her parking fine? Holly Thomas writes What a worrying position to find yourself in, being chased by debt collectors for charges that are nothing to do with you. Top stories 1 Prepare now for the inheritance tax mess coming for your pension Tax A TfL Auto Pay account allows automatic billing for chargeable journeys made within the congestion charge zone or through the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels. Having sold your car in October 2025, you quite rightly didn't think it fair that you should pay charges racked up by the new owner. From June 5 to August 3 there were a whopping 97 Ulez congestion charges totalling ￡1,416 accrued by your vehicle. TfL maintains a hard line on this matter, stating on its website that car owners are “legally responsible for all charges incurred until you manually remove the sold vehicle from your Transport for London (TfL) Auto Pay account, because TfL does not automatically update ownership details from DVLA records”. Advertisement Regardless, I found it extraordinary that your appeals were repeatedly rejected. What's more, I found it odd that you should be sent debt collection letters without having had any kind of communication from TfL about the failed payments. CDER Group threatened enforcement within 14 days if you didn't pay up. After a call from me to TfL, it decided to do the right thing and waive the entire debt. The vehicle has been removed from your account and the debt collectors called off. The parking fine appeal that wasn't what it seemed I asked TfL why this was referred to a debt collector without warning. It said that it had emailed you three statements advising of the charges and three emails between the end of July and the end of August requesting the payment, which included notification of suspension of the account. You said you had no such emails, which are presumably still floating in the ether somewhere. TfL said: “We are sorry for any distress Neil has experienced. A condition of signing up to Auto Pay is that the account holder is liable for any charges that are incurred by vehicles that remain on the account, including if it has been sold or is owned by someone else. On this occasion we have decided to show our discretion and cancel the outstanding charges.” Advertisement A Freedom of Information request to TFL in June last year, made by an undisclosed but presumably disgruntled driver, asked it to reveal how many Auto Pay account holders had disputed charges for vehicles they no longer owned and if those charges had also been taken from the new owners of the vehicles, leading TfL to get double payments. TfL responded but did not provide any such data. I asked TfL if the owner of your old car had been manually paying their charges that were also automatically applied to your account, but it declined to comment. You said: “I can only express my profound gratitude to you for taking up my case and removing this enormous weight from my shoulders.” Record fines for motorist victims of car cloning To claim a refund on an Auto Pay account because the vehicle or number plate is no longer yours, go through the Auto Pay charge dispute process online or by phone within 90 days of your statement. I helped another reader earlier this year when TfL issued a ￡200 bill relating to charges racked up by the new driver using the plate. Advertisement If you remain unhappy with the outcome of a dispute, write to TfL's customer service manager. There are three stages and if none reaches a resolution you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman, which investigates complaints against local authorities and public bodies such as Transport for London. We switched supplier, but Ovo kept our money We are owed about ￡350 by Ovo Energy because our account was in credit when we switched to Octopus on July 16. We have been chasing the money ever since. On September 10, Ovo Energy apologised about the delay but it has still not refunded the money. We've had a request for the meter reading again, which we provided straight away. Ovo is now saying that it is struggling to apply the reading and close the account. All the automated replies from the complaints team and chief executive's team say that a reply will be received within two days but that doesn't happen. Ovo then said it would pass on our complaint to one of its specialists “who will call within five days”. That has been and gone. Please can you help? John, Hertfordshire Holly Thomas writes How tedious to have to chase money that belongs to you. Under rules from the energy regulator, Ofgem, a supplier has six weeks to provide a final bill and ten days after that to refund any credit. In your case the bill should have been sent by August 27 and the money should have followed by eary September. Advertisement When I called Ovo it said that the delay in your refund was caused by an internal systems error with data transfers for those who had switched supply. The issue has now been fixed and your refund was actioned. More good news is that you received ￡459.65 — ￡111.12 more than you were expecting after a recalculation by Ovo. Ovo to pay ￡2.8m compensation after failing vulnerable customers It also agreed to pay you ￡300 compensation, ￡40 of which you were paid in August under Ofgem rules for suppliers that fail to adhere to the rules on billing for closed accounts. Automatic payments of ￡40 are due if a bill is late and if the refunds are late too. Ovo said: “The error has been fixed. We have written to apologise for the delay to the credit refund, confirm the current credit balance of ￡459.65, and offer a goodwill payment in acknowledgment of the delay, which has been accepted.” You said: “Thank you so much for your help. We felt like we were not getting anywhere before your involvement.” About 16 million UK households hold an estimated ￡3 billion credit in their energy accounts, often designed to cover higher bills in winter. The average customer's credit is ￡200. You don't have to switch suppliers to get credit returned, you can ask for it at any time. If you have a money problem you would like The Times or The Sunday Times to investigate, email yourmoneymatters@thetimes.co.uk . Please include a phone number Money Ask Times Money Share Share this article Email Twitter Facebook Link Save