Student uses AI to write appeal

A woman has used an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot to successfully appealed against a £60 parking penalty charge notice. When Millie Houlton received the PCN she said she was tempted to pay rather than spend time composing a letter. However, she asked ChatGPT AI system: “Please help me write a letter to the council, they gave me a parking ticket.”

Chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT are designed to answer questions by finding information and presenting it in a human-like manner.

The 22-year-old York St John University said the PCN had been incorrectly issued for parking on her street as she has a permit to do so.

She told the BBC: “I was like, ‘Oh I don’t need this fine, I’m a student’, but trying to articulate what I wanted to say was pretty difficult so I thought I’ll just see if ChatGPT can do it for me. I put in all my details about where and when it happened, why it was wrong and my reference for the fine and it came back with this perfectly formed personalised response within minutes. It said I was a student and that I had paid for my permit for two years and I wasn’t going to deliberately park somewhere I shouldn’t.” was also made to widen the criteria to include people on a wider range of disability benefits, or whose vehicle adaptations makes them more difficult to change. This includes nominated drivers and people living outside of London.

Houlton sent the letter that the chatbot generated and the PCN was withdrawn. She said although she had been using the OpenAI system for a while, she had begun to use it for social occasions, such as organising an Easter egg hunt for her running club.

Sadiq Khan said: “I have always been clear with Londoners that the aim of the ULEZ is to get the most polluting vehicles off our roads in order to protect both the health of Londoners and our environment. This new data shows people, businesses and charities understand the impact of air pollution on health and are preparing for the change. We expect the number of compliant vehicles to go up even more as people prepare for the expansion, but we know

Jemima Hartshorn, founder and director of the campaign group Mums for Lungs, said: “London’s toxic air is harming children’s health, stunting their lung growth and causing asthma. It is brilliant that those who own the most polluting vehicles driving throughout Outer London are already cleaning up their act to be ready for the ULEZ expansion.”

Silviya Barrett, director of policy and research at the Campaign from Better Transport, said: “It’s vital that we act to clean up our polluting air, so it’s really encouraging to see that so many people are already making the switch to less polluting vehicles. We welcome the mayor’s investment in buses and the scrappage scheme which will support lowincome households transition to greener transport. We hope that lots of people will take up the scheme’s offer of an annual bus or tram pass and experience the benefits of public transport.”

Chatbot versus Gatwick Airport

A driver who was fined after driving through Gatwick Airport’s drop-off zone has challenged the charge notice using an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. Shaun Bosley, from Brighton, received a £100 charge from NCP after dropping a work colleague at the airport in November.

He turned Open AI’s ChatGPT to generate a humanlike appeal that stated he had had no previous notice of the fine, which was issued by NCP.

Motorists dropping passengers at Gatwick have to pay £5 for a maximum of 10 minutes. They are charged an additional £1 for every minute they stay after that up to a maximum of 20 minutes.

Bosley credits the chatbot with convincing NCP to reduce the fine to £15, which was the original amount.

ChatGPT users type a request into a chat box and the system generates a response. Bosley said: “I just typed, ‘Write an appeal to a penalty charge notice for driving through Gatwick Airport’. I have received final notice, but never received first notice of the penalty’, and straight away it came back with a great response.”

ChatGPT helped Bosley write a letter that read: “I understand that it is my responsibility as a driver to be aware of the rules and regulations regarding driving through an airport. However, I never received the first notice of the penalty and therefore, did not have the opportunity to contest the charge or pay the fine in a timely manner.”