- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Keerthi Mohan
LONDON mayor Sadiq Khan intervened after a woman said she was levied a congestion charge penalty fine, despite providing evidence she suffered a miscarriage that day.
Cairis Hickey, from south London, slammed the Transport on London (TfL) in a tweet on August 27, saying she was asked to pay the £160 fine despite providing them with details of her miscarriage.
Cairis wrote online: “Thank you TfL for acknowledging my miscarriage would have been a ‘distressing time’.
“I’m sorry that whilst I was pregnant I did not pay for the congestion charge before anticipating that I would miscarry!”
Thank you @TfL for acknowledging my miscarriage would have been ‘a distressing time’ & I’m sorry that whilst I was pregnant I did not pay for the congestion charge before anticipating that I would miscarry! I can assume D.Milton is a man. @MiscarriageA #pcn #miscarriageawareness pic.twitter.com/GfxdZ7Iy4d
— Cairis (@WigglyWildShow) August 27, 2019
TfL have since apologised and overturned the penalty after Khan intervened.
Taking to Twitter, Khan wrote: “TfL will be issuing an apology and waiving the fine.
“I have also asked them to ensure issues like this are treated with the sensitivity and humanity they deserve in future.”
Later, Hickey took to the microblogging platform to reveal that she has been sent an apology. The fine has also been rescinded, she said.
Just to let everyone know that @TfL have rung to apologise, cancelled the PCN and assured me that normally this tone of letter is not used for mitigating circumstances involving bereavement (which was what most concerned me). #miscarriageawareness
— Cairis (@WigglyWildShow) August 28, 2019
Helen Chapman, TfL’s director of licensing, regulation and charging, admitted the situation was handled “incorrectly”.
She said: “We are extremely sorry for the highly insensitive letter that we sent Ms Hickey. It is clear that we handled this incorrectly.
“We have cancelled the penalty charge notice with immediate effect and we will deal with any similar future case with much greater sensitivity.”
