how i turned £5.10 into 117.42!

gavinjenkins

Or should i say severn river crossing plc did! I mistakingly drove my car (an L200 pick up) through the cash bin lane and therfore failed to pay the correct amount. I paid £5.10 instead of £10.20.

I received a letter......

OUTSTANDING SEVERN BRIDGE TOLL FEE £5.10

VEHICLE REGISTRATION: xx54 xxx
VEHICLE DETAILS: Mitsubishi Pick-Up
DVLA SEARCH FEE £2.94
ADMINISTRATION FEE £29.38
DEBT RECOVERY DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATION FEE £80.00
INVOICE TOTAL £117.42

PROMPT PAYMENT
If payment is received within 7 days, a discount of £80 may be applied
DISCOUNT FOR PROMPT PAYMENT - £80.00
INVOICE TOTAL if paid within 7 days £37.42
Included VAT (17.50%) 5.57

This is an edited version of the letter they sent me and the breakdown of fees. 37.42 if paid within 7 days or 117.42 after!

Am i right in thinking this is a LITTLE excessive? Can i get away with just sending the £5.10 I owe them and thier fee for the DVLA search?

Advice would be greatfully received.

mr_accountant

Seems scandalous to me

But then again only because these types can get away with it do they charge these amounts.


What’s with an £8o admin fee, are they paying their paper pushers £50 an hour, seems very unlikely.

anewman

How long has it been since you crossed the bridge? If I thought I would get away with it I would send a cheque for £5.10 with a letter of apology stating that you inadvertently went through the cash lane, yet only had means to pay by credit card. I would say I am sorry for the extra costs incurred by them but that they did the DVLA search, administration and used a debt recovery agency all of their own accord, and I was going to happily pay the missed amount but did not have the correct contact details.

You could also send a jokey invoice back. Invoice them for failing to make the lanes clear or something and add a load of BS about admin costs etc and demand they pay up. Lol.

But chances are you won't get away with it. I would say pay up and save the £80.

AP

I would just pay them what you believe is fair - the £5.10 unpaid toll fee plus the £2.94 DVLA search fee and let them take you to court for the remaining balance. You can then drag it out in court and ask them to justify their administration fee of £29.38 and the debt recovery department fee of £80.00.
Have they displayed prominently anywhere about these two charges on the approach to the toll booths? Chances are as long as they get the unpaid toll fee back plus the £2.94 expenses, it is unlikely for them to pursue the balance of the 'fees' which would be more trouble than what's worth to them.

violetta

I would think you could argue that if banks are now only allowed to charge a justifiable administration fee commensurate with what the admin actually costs them, rather than sky high bank charges, the same would apply to Severn Bridge Toll administrators.

I bet they set it so high to frighten you into paying the lower fee demanded of £37.42 (which kind of works with most people, I would imagine!)

Wayne3765

You really mistakenly drove your van through the cash bin lane clearly marked cars only ? or where you one of the many drivers I have heard laughing about knowingly driving a van through the cash bin lane to save on the crossing fee ....... well , only laughing until they get a letter similar to yours dropping through the letterbox.

I know of someone who was working over the bridge and drove a van through the cash bin every day for a week and failed to tell his boss he'd pocketed some of the £9.60 daily bridge fee he had given to him .

Needless to say his boss wasn't too pleased when a week or so later a pile of letters turned up and passed them all to the clever driver to pay and gave him a b******ing for trying to fiddle him out of a few quid bridge money.

gavinjenkins

No, wayne... new car, and frist time over bridge. And to me it is my 'car' so I didn't really twig.

Ce la vie, I'll know next time. Drive round f'ing gloucester way and use the tenner on fuel instead! :j

Pipcola

I read somewhere recently that the Police have used discresion where this type of vehicle is concerned. The so called 'lifestyle' pick-up being classed as as a car whilst the more utilitarian pick-up being classed as a commercial vehicle. Hope this may be of some use..........

Hintza

To be honest is it worth the fight? They will return the cheque to you and then start chasing you.

I had a not dissimilar experience when I was unable to pay (no ticket machine on London Undeground) £10 fine which I took all the way to the ombudsman...needless to say he found in their favour.

If you do decide to fight it I think you need to add a bit for their admin. say another £5 - £10. But again I think the cheque will be returned. If you really push it they will soon slap that £80 charge on.

piggeh

You should pay them the toll bridge fee and DVLA search fee (at a stretch - they could have just asked the police to get your details!). Pay a small amount towards admin fees (it's maybe half an hour's work).

Anything above that is simply profit and penalty charges should only cover a company's loss (as per bank charges)