Fight against unfair and dishonest Congestion Charge Penalty Notices

TheKid

Browntoa wrote: »

You can pay the charge:

• Online
• By mobile text messaging (SMS)
• By phone
• By Automated Telephone Service

so during the 2 hours you have to kill once you are "airport side" you don't have 5 minutes to ring up or pay online ??

Clearly if I didn't pay it is because I couldn't since I am fully aware of the consequences.

But you seem to think what TFL is doing is appropriate and condone it. Do you?

TheKid

TheJollyClamper wrote: »

You can pay the charge in a whole lot of ways.

By post.
By SMS text.
By mobile phone (from anywhere in the world)
By land line (including airports)
At a shop (including airports)
Online (from anywhere in the world)

If you think the congestion charge is unfair try taking in a lorry that doesn't meet the emmision requirements. Thats £200 a day!

I actually think the congestion charge scheme is a good policy so long as it is run honestly which it is not.

The system is setup to extract the maximum revenue whilst arousing the minimum public resistance, by advertising a socially deemed acceptable £8 cost while dishonestly operating the scheme at a much higher cost to the user through this unacceptable ONE DAY payment deadline followed by £60 and higher penalty fines.

I say put in place a direct debit scheme for usage at no extra cost to the current system. The system already has the capability to process fines send them to your address, and collect payment. The same can be done with bills.

Why is this not being done?
This is what I'm trying to get achieve.

sauvignon

TheKid,

Am I right that you went to Paddington and then took the Heathrow Express? This must be a perfect penalty charging hotspot as this is what happened to my son who unintentionally entered the CC zone there.

He was parked near Paddington and was leaving the area. Only later did he discover - when he received the penalty notice and checked out the map - that he did, indeed, enter the zone but he had no other option, as he had to go through a one-way street that was already inside the zone. He did so for only about a minute, covering about 25 yards.

He acknowledged the transgression but being unemployed and having no money he appealed, asking for some leniency as this was a genuine mistake and he had no choice of a different route at that point. He also asked for evidence from other cameras to be consulted which would prove that he had left the zone where and when he said he had.

Needless to say, his appeal was rejected. If he knew that no "mitigating" circumstances are ever considered once you entered the zone he probably wouldn't have bothered appealing and waiting for weeks for a decision. His offer while appealing to pay the daily charge retrospectively was rejected as "there is no provision" for this. This just proves your point that this is a good moneyspinner.

There are probably many more such hotspots where you just skim the zone having no other choice and are charged automatically. If you don't realise this - not all drivers are Londoners, you pay for it dearly.

I also generally agree with the cc. But this was a draconian decision and there is no appeal against it.

bob_a_builder

Well I for one agree completely with the OP, I always wondered my self why it wasn't the case that they bill you when you enter it.

But don't think there are enough cameras to do that, also rely on people overpaying, just in case they enter accidentally.

Plus fact fine is halved if you pay early tends to put you off challenging it.

Try calling them to check if you entered scheme, they can't /won't tell you

I think I read it costs as much to administer it as it takes in.

TheKid

bob_a_builder wrote: »

Well I for one agree completely with the OP, I always wondered my self why it wasn't the case that they bill you when you enter it.

But don't think there are enough cameras to do that, also rely on people overpaying, just in case they enter accidentally.

Plus fact fine is halved if you pay early tends to put you off challenging it.

Try calling them to check if you entered scheme, they can't /won't tell you

I think I read it costs as much to administer it as it takes in.

Yeah, so basicaly we agree that they run this scheme in a dishonest way. Advertising the £8 charge to which the government and the people have agreed to while in reality operating the scheme in a way to raise the average cost way above this £8.

We somehow need to abolish their outrageous practices and get them to bill us for use instead. Then they will A) have to come clean with how much it really costs per vehicle entry and have to run the scheme more efficiently.

How do we do that??? There are organisations to protect people from potential abuse by Gas, Electricity and other utilities. Who do we appeal to in this case???

bob_a_builder

It seems someone has finally listened ....


"
The charge is proposed to rise to £10 if paid on the day, or £12 if paid the following day, and the new auto-pay system would operate by registering vehicles for a £10 per year charge, with a monthly bill issued to the driver at £9 per day rather than the £10 for paying manually. The system means vehicles registered for the system wouldn’t ever be issued Penalty Charge Notices for forgetting to pay the charge, and vehicles would be logged as they entered the zone, instead of the current system where drivers can pay in advances then lose the money if their plans change and they don’t actually drive into the zone.

from LINK

Sean_D_H

I understand your frustration it is depressing that through a lapse in memory over a short time you should go from paying a fee of £8.00 to a fine of £60.00.

I unwittingly entered the zone in hammersmith for a few metres and did not pay because i didnt know the zone extended there and didnt notice the road signs either because they were obscured by buses at a busy junction or because i was looking for Hammersmith and Westminster Hospital. The zone starts a hundred yards or so before the hospital.

I would gladly have paid if i'd known. I contested and they rejected my offer of late payment. They say it is the road users responsibility to read road signs....but i'm sure they cant guarantee that they were visible to me at the time: and that i had the option of late payment which i never took because i wasnt aware i was in the zone. I think i have a good case.

Sean_D_H

Following my fine i decided to pre-register my cars for the zone only at the end to see they want £10.00 per car on top of a £60.00 fine...i hate them. They are criminals.

Sean_D_H

Did your son take it further than the initial written appeal?

Lum

Just stick a small wet carrier bag over your numberplate, problem solved.

Seriously though, there are bigger problems with the Con. Charge than the payment deadline, such as the complete failure to deal with fake numberplates. This happened to one of our company cars a few years back and fortunately we had satellite tracker data showing the car (a WV Golf) was in Scotland at the time. TFL refused to accept this and sent us a picture of the offending vehicle, which in the photo was clearly a Transit van with the numberplate of our Golf on the front.

They should just put toll booths up and be done with it. Traffic is so slow in London anyway that it wouldn't make much difference and would avoid fining people who aren't local and don't know what the C symbol on the road means.