Congestion-charging trap!!!

ancientbuilding

At the corner of Kennington Lane Lane and Tyers St London SE11 Transport For London have a permanent trap set for the unsuspecting.

Travelling away from the embankment in an easterly direction you are not in the congestion zone if you do not turn off left but you are in the zone if you do. TFL have an obligation to put a sign at the corner warning you that you are about to enter the charge zone.

They have. It's facing in opposite direction!

So you turn left into Tyers St and you have entered the zone without knowing it. The only way back out is via one of the roads that has a camera on it, and thus you get a ticket.

As it has been like this for at least three months (and maybe years for all I know) there must be hundreds or thousands of people who have been tapped for £65 in this way, and so I am hoping we can all get together and not only get the sign turned round but get our money back.

Please suport this cause, and please suggest how we can put on the pressure about it.

molerat

In May 2012 it was facing the right way on Google Maps. Have you complained and contested the penalty ? There is a big red C painted on the road though.
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/congestioncharging/6727.aspx
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/congestioncharging/6752.aspx

Lum

It's an interesting one this one. Probably the same issue as when vandals turn around or remove speed limit signs*. Technically the penalty is unenforcible but good luck proving it, especially if you've already paid it.

*A favourite of some joker back when I used to live up north was to rotate the NSL/30 signs at the point where a country road turned into a residential area. Eventually they'd get fixed only to be turned around again a few days later.

oscarward

I was caught in a very similar fashion. First time driving around London since the m25 was built and was trying to get from Lewisham to the M40 without going through the congestion zone.

I ended up on a roundabout somewhere (think it was bricklayers arms) and took a turning off on to a short stretch of dual carriageway to discover the markings for congestion zone in front of me. I turned at the first gap after about 100yds . Still got a ticket though. I presume there were signs somewhere but being busy trying to get round must have missed them.

I paid up.

bigjl

The reason they painted the C on the road was to help with such situations.

You could argue the fine with tfl but I don't hold out much hope.

As this wasn't the only notification there was that you were about to enter a CC zone.

I wonder "who" turned the sign round?

shaun_from_Africa

bigjl wrote: »

I wonder "who" turned the sign round?

ancientbuilding

I know quite a lot about engineering, and it is true that if you are tall enough you might be able to turn the sign round - but if fitted properly it would be extremely difficult. Anyway, it could have been anchored in place by a spot weld or a bolt through the post. I will have a look next time I am there.

Thank you others. I haven't paid the fine and have contested it.

And yet again: once you have turned into Tyers St there is an almost invisible C painted on the road - but as it is a one-way street and Kennington Lane is quite busy it would be pretty challenging to reverse back into (and illegal!).

TFL told me in their correspondence that they have an obligation both to fit and maintain signs and that they believe the sign to be correct. As I have told them three months running that it needs fixing I don't imagine they have much of a case, but they are still saying it.

Perhaps more important is the huge number of people who must already have been caught in this way. Please can they have their money back? TFL was not intended to be a system by which to fleece the unsuspecting.

Are we talking about millions of pounds?

bigjl

Don't fully understand your point in the last post.

If you have told them three months running Bout this signage issue how did you manage to get caught?

As surely you were always aware that you couldn't drive down there without entering the CC zone?

I have been driving round London for 20+ years so before and after the introduction of the CC.

And to be perfectly honest you really need to be distracted to drive in without knowing it.

The signage is fairly comprehensive and is not only on the road surface but on all the signs approaching the CC zone aswell.

I think this is one of you first ever post led threads on the forum so not really sure what your motives for the thread are.

If you want people to agree that the CC is unjust then you will get no argument from me.

ancientbuilding

After I received the Penalty Charge Notice I went back over my route of that particular trip after 6pm and discovered the point at which I had entered the zone.

But anyway, I sometimes go past it on a bus. Last time I passed it, it was Tuesday the 7th May (that is, this Tuesday) and it was still pointing the wrong way! It was pointing equally at both of the two roads from which you cannot enter the zone because of the one-way system at that point, which only permits entry form Kennington Lane going SE.

Are you part of the TFL team? If so, I have now told them again.

Lum

You got photographs right?

If you've told them, expect the sign to get turned around at some point between now and when you try to appeal the ticket.

ancientbuilding

what about all those other people they will have trapped in this way? I think this is actually a very large-scale scam. Probably millions of pounds involved. They could be reluctant to fix the sign because it is so easy to make money out of it.

After all, I have been telling them about the sign since January and it is now May.

You talk about when I appeal. They have somehow managed to avoid my being able to appeal, and now I have them demanding £180! Very profitable indeed. I need to go to the county court and swear an affidavit etc etc.

What a waste of time.

(by the way, Liverpool University School of Law are planning a conference on corruption and scams withn UK soon.)