Doctor 'mistakenly' facing £5,000 in congestion fines

A doctor says he has been "mistakenly" fined almost £5,000 for breaches of Oxford's temporary congestion charge and traffic filters.

Hasanen Al-Taiar is a consultant forensic psychiatrist working in Oxford, making him eligible for permits to travel through city charge points without facing any fines.

But he said despite correctly registering for those permits, he had been handed 49 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for breaching the rules since December 2025.

Oxfordshire County Council said it could not comment on individual cases.

Al-Taiar said he was now facing a bill of £4,950 for what he said the council had previously admitted was an "administrative error".

"It's been a very traumatic time to be honest, it is worrying," he said.

The psychiatrist said he had worked in Oxford for 16 years and travelled around the city to "deal with mental health emergencies".

"That's technically dealing with mental health episodes and dealing with individuals will have mental health problems," he said.

Under the congestion charge and traffic filter rules, health or care workers can travel through the six charge points free of charge to provide services or transport patients.

They are required to register for a permit for up to three cars, but only one car can be used on any day.

The vehicle in question must be marked as "active" by the end of the same day.

"I applied for permits through my NHS work, and I obtained them within a couple of weeks," Al-Taiar said.

"Everything was going smoothly and then these PCNs started to come to my house - numerous charges and penalties."

He said he then contacted the council, which operated the congestion charge and now runs the traffic filters scheme.

It said that it had been "an administrative error or a software issue, and it wasn't my mistake", the doctor said.

"It was the council's mistake and they acknowledged that by writing a few times.

"But the letters continued, so the charges continued and then I challenged that and I got the reply last Friday where it said I was required to pay the money.

"It is clearly very, very annoying and disturbing - it's a very significant amount of money."