Congestion Charge - urgent- pls reply before

bikebarbie

LOL my bike went last week!

The question was on behalf of my husband, do you really think that an intelligent female like Moi would do such a school girl error ?

geordieracer

bikebarbie wrote: »

sorry shouldnt have too high expectations from all forum members, you simply fail to understand that the difficulty was not seeing a BIG RED 'C' but the TIMING ISSUE!
In addition I am making a point out of principle that if a drivers genuinely did not realize that they were in the zone at a particular time, do you really think is fair that we have no right to find out before we pay for something we dont owe!

read Shane's reply which he clarifies for me :T

Some people hate it when you dont give them the answer they are looking for but something else that will show they are not at fault

I understood the timing issue maybe you didnt read what i had said about looking at the big 'c' then checking the clock on your dash...

at least Shanes reply was constructive rather then just being a bit on the rude side(as mine was admittedly)

I guess the best way to avoid this situation is to not go anywhere near it if you believe your clock or theirs may be out(though i would suggest that it would be more likely your own)

bikebarbie

Daer Geordie I was not trying to read just what I wanted to hear...how can one be 100% sure that the clocks match up?? When we are talking about 30 secs or two minutes, it's very difficult to fall on either side...

Also to clarify matters and dispel assumptions - the car was already within the zone (entered prior to the CC starting) so a BIG RED 'C' sign was not apparent as soon as you come out of a car park.

Premier_2

If I were that close to the cut-off time and was concerned about the accuracy of my time keeping device (just how accurate are the radio pips? :rolleyes:) or even had concerns about the accuracy of the TFL clock :eek:, I think I'd hang about for 5 minutes to be on the safe side and save myself a possible charge.

movilogo

Just wondering how difficult it is to see the BIG RED 'C' thats on the road

Not arguing with that, but how difficult is for TfL to check whether a particular registration number on their database?

They are lying if they say they don't have this info. The cameras capture all number plates which enter and exit from CC charge zone.

The word robbery comes to mind.

biscuitdunker

movilogo wrote: »

Not arguing with that, but how difficult is for TfL to check whether a particular registration number on their database?

They are lying if they say they don't have this info. The cameras capture all number plates which enter and exit from CC charge zone.

The word robbery comes to mind.

I think the reason they can't tell you, is because they don't always know themselves. There are areas of the CC zone which are not covered by their cameras which is why they also have roaming CC vehicles with cameras attached to them. Some people know the areas which aren't covered and manage to get away with not paying!

bikebarbie

Premier wrote: »

If I were that close to the cut-off time and was concerned about the accuracy of my time keeping device (just how accurate are the radio pips? :rolleyes:) or even had concerns about the accuracy of the TFL clock :eek:, I think I'd hang about for 5 minutes to be on the safe side and save myself a possible charge.

I agree if it was me I would have done that but we are talking about a man (yes I am being sexist )

I had never considered the prospect that even they didnt know. I think that would add insult to injury; so when people call to pay they dont even have the reassurance that they are paying for something legitimately? WOW :eek:

biscuitdunker

bikebarbie wrote: »

I had never considered the prospect that even they didnt know. I think that would add insult to injury; so when people call to pay they dont even have the reassurance that they are paying for something legitimately? WOW :eek:

Yep, not everyone who enters the zone is clocked and lots of people pay it without actually entering the zone and they're not given refunds.

newfoundglory

A part of me wants to think "surely there would be a window of a few minutes before 6pm where it wouldnt charge you" to prevent this sort of thing happening.

But then I have to laugh to myself and remember we are talking about TfL here, who contracted out the running of the CC to a private company; who make a lot of money from running it.

If you wanted to, you could could probably make a subject access request using the data protection act, because as a living individual you could be identified from the data they hold about your car (eg from your number plate they could identify you)...

However, you wont get the information in time before you get the fine.... and you might be charged more than the £8 to get it anyway.

economiser

bikebarbie wrote: »

I agree if it was me I would have done that but we are talking about a man (yes I am being sexist )

I had never considered the prospect that even they didnt know. I think that would add insult to injury; so when people call to pay they dont even have the reassurance that they are paying for something legitimately? WOW :eek:

They won't tell you because of data protection. How do they know you are the driver of the car about which you are enquiring? You might be checking on someone else's whereabouts.