Blackwall Tunnel £4 Charge for off peak time.

Mattowns

I accidently took a wrong turn today and ended up going through the blackwall tunnel.  This was after 10am so I presumed I would pay £1.50 off peak price, but when I went online to pay it is only giving me the choice of paying £4.  Is this correct or some sort of error?

Anthony147

Unfortunately not - They only give an off peak price to those registered and on auto pay.
Im sure they are fully aware infrequent users wouldn’t do that and they’ll happily collect additional revenue that is somewhat immoral but anything road charging based seems to be done exactly the same way.

But hey, the motorist can take it or they’d stop driving!

Mattowns

So even if I set up auto pay now I'm forced to pay the two £4 peak price?

Can't help but feel they have scammed me out of £5.

Ayr_Rage

Mattowns said:

So even if I set up auto pay now I'm forced to pay the two £4 peak price?

Can't help but feel they have scammed me out of £5.

Trying to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted never works.

TooManyPoints

Can't help but feel they have scammed me out of £5.

They have not scammed you out of anything. The charges are perfectly clear:

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/silvertown-blackwall-tunnels-charge

“To help spread traffic levels more evenly and reduce congestion, a peak charge applies during the busiest times (06:00-10:00 northbound and 16:00-19:00 southbound weekdays). An off-peak charge applies at all other times and during weekends 06:00 to 22:00, and is only available to customers registered with Auto Pay."

Of course you cannot set up "Auto-Pay" after your journeys and expect the discount on them. That's a bit like buying a railcard after you have travelled and expecting the discount on your fare that the card provides.

Mattowns

Good news, I contacted TFL who informed me that as long as I set up autopay on the day of my travel, even if it was after I went through the Blackwall Tunnel I will only be charged £3.00.

Glad I didn't pay the £8, now it's simply a matter of waiting for them to bill me or in some cases not bill me as their Number Plate Recognition system sounds a bit shoddy.

TooManyPoints

Good result. Glad I was wrong but I must say I am surprised.

DullGreyGuy

TooManyPoints said:

Good result. Glad I was wrong but I must say I am surprised.

I'd suspect that they try to do the autopay over night and so a simple check of is there an in force autopay instruction is much easier/lighter to do than having to check the date it was setup and if its same day then checking the time it was setup -v- the time they went through plus then the customer service overhead dealing with the complaints. 

Sometimes simple is better