Father 'hounded by aggressive debt collectors' after driving through LTN which was later ruled unlawful

A Croydon father was pursued by "aggressive" debt collectors after a friend drove him through a Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) to reach urgent medical care. Roger Minnis, 58, had undergone abdominal surgery and was bleeding from a wound when he contacted South Norwood Hill Medical Centre on June 5 last year.Medical staff told him to attend immediately so a nurse could dress his injury.A friend working nearby offered to drive Mr Minnis there, taking the route via Holmesdale Road which passes through a restricted zone.The journey takes just two minutes via this road - but becomes considerably longer using alternative routes, according to his daughter Saffron.The family gave no further thought to the trip until months later when debt collectors made contact.On November 14, a letter arrived for Mr Minnis's friend saying he owed £250 for an unpaid LTN fine, with debt collection firm CDER Group adding a compliance fee to bring the total to £325.Saffron, 29, contacted the collectors on behalf of the driver, whose van was registered through his business.She described the response as hostile and intimidating."They're kind of threatening me... They're saying if we don't pay the fine today, it's going up," she told the Daily Mail. The same day she phoned CDER, the amount demanded rose to £565.Despite the vehicle not belonging to the Minnis family, the company continued bombarding Saffron with daily calls and messages.LONDON - READ THE LATEST:Thousands of protesters to descend on London this weekend as police plan 'zero-tolerance approach'Met Police office attacked in Golders Green - Man, 49, arrestedMet Police arrests more than 170 people using facial recognition camerasOne concerning message warned that ANPR cameras were "actively looking" for the van.Croydon Council failed to respond to the family's requests for assistance.Saffron attempted to challenge the penalty through the Traffic Enforcement Centre, but her appeal was rejected in February on grounds she had not explained the late submission, despite her insistence the family knew nothing of the fine until debt collectors made contact.She was informed a district judge review would cost £313 with a hearing, or £123 without."You don't want to put more money in the pot and you're not even going to win," she said.A month later, the High Court declared all six of Croydon's LTNs unlawful, determining they had been set up primarily as revenue-generating schemes.The council accumulated £7.2million from the traffic restrictions, though it has not pledged to return the full sum to affected motorists.Following the ruling, Saffron contacted the council immediately seeking cancellation of the penalty and removal of her details from bailiff databases.She received no reply and was forced to telephone CDER directly, where staff confirmed the fine had been withdrawn."They didn't even have the decency to say, you know, 'We're sorry, we've cancelled it,' or anything like that," she said. "It's absolutely disgusting that Croydon Council thought that was okay and even today, there's been no correspondence from them, no apology."Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden condemned the schemes, saying: "Croydon's rotten LTNs were put in place by the 2020 Labour administration, and the High Court was right to rule them unlawful."He accused the Government of abandoning oversight standards, claiming ministers had "simply washed their hands of it".A Croydon Council spokesman said: "We are sorry about the problems our resident experienced with this PCN."Our policy requires agencies acting on our behalf to use a proportionate approach when chasing fines."Meanwhile, a spokesman for the CDER Group said: "Our records show we contacted the resident five times and having reviewed all the calls, our staff were polite and helpful, advising the resident of the appeals process."This was not followed and the enforcement process continued correctly in line with the relevant regulations."As soon as the resident filed the required forms to challenge the issuing of the original penalty charge, enforcement action was suspended and no further contact was made, with the case eventually being recalled by our client."Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter