Dart Charge penalty notice

nick1234

Hi just wanted some advice on a Dart Charge notice which i received the first correspondence for in January 2024, relating to a crossing made on 24 August 2023 and failure to pay the toll fee. 

Upon receiving this very late notice, i immediately appealed (in January 2024) and did not recieve ANY letters/emails about the appeal being rejected and now recieved a letter advising the charge is £107.50!   If you don’t pay within 28 days, the  service the fee increases to £107.   My initial appeal has disappeared from view of the portal and when i was periodically checking it was still showing as pending (Jan-Feb), but as advised i recieved no update.  

My original appeal was based on the fact that my Dart Charge account was live and payment details had been updated within 24 hours of making the crossing (within the payment period) and i attached email evidence to show this as everytime you make an account change you get an email, so I was unsure why the payment was not automatically taken as it normally does when i make a crossing. 

The latest Charge letter says failure to pay within 14 days of the letter means they can register the debt to the county court or get a court order.  I have just appealed it again, god knows how long it will take.  

Has anyone experienced this or has advice on how i should respond?   Reading online reviews their service appears to have gone downhill.

prettyandfluffy

nick1234 said:

My original appeal was based on the fact that my Dart Charge account was live and payment details had been updated within 24 hours of making the crossing (within the payment period) and i attached email evidence to show this as everytime you make an account change you get an email, so I was unsure why the payment was not automatically taken as it normally does when i make a crossing. 

Do you mean that you changed or updated your account payment details in the 24 hours after your journey? Was there a valid payment method in place at the time of your journey?  Or is it that they appeared to take the payment and this failed in some way?

nick1234

prettyandfluffy said:

nick1234 said:

My original appeal was based on the fact that my Dart Charge account was live and payment details had been updated within 24 hours of making the crossing (within the payment period) and i attached email evidence to show this as everytime you make an account change you get an email, so I was unsure why the payment was not automatically taken as it normally does when i make a crossing. 

Do you mean that you changed or updated your account payment details in the 24 hours after your journey? Was there a valid payment method in place at the time of your journey?  Or is it that they appeared to take the payment and this failed in some way?

Yes there was a valid payment method as i get auto charged all the time, but just to be sure the next day after crossing i logged into the account and just clicked save and it generated an account update email.  Anyway i have appealed will see what they say..