Congestion Charge fine 17:59

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  • Aylesbury_Duck
    Aylesbury_Duck Posts: 13,989 Forumite
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    Herzlos wrote: »
    Is there another level of appeal? They may be strictly adhering to Greenwich but I don't think it's fair for your clock to be so accurately calibrated.

    Imho a 2 minute or less overlap should just be a warning of "hey, you're cutting it a bit close, be careful".
    What's not fair about the OP's clock being accurate?

    As to a "grace period" or similar, you can see where that leads.

    "I've just been fined for entering the congestion zone at 18:03 when my clock and the car radio said it was 18:02....."
  • marlot
    marlot Posts: 4,934 Forumite
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    Just done a google and found this: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5435117/Fines-quashed-130-penalty-overturned.html
  • Supersonos
    Supersonos Posts: 1,080 Forumite
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    marlot wrote: »
    Just done a google and found this: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5435117/Fines-quashed-130-penalty-overturned.html

    I guess the problem is, what proof does the OP have? Unless they are absolutely certain it was after 6pm, it could be an expensive appeal.

    There's quite a delay these days between the radio studio and you hearing the presenter - not sure if radio stations try and compensate for that and there's a chance the OP was hearing it a minute or so earlier than intended?
  • robatwork
    robatwork Posts: 7,090 Forumite
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    Try an FOI request regarding the calibration of time on that particular camera.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    You'd think the scroungers at TfL would at least have a leeway of, say, a couple of minutes, just to avoid this type of misunderstanding.
  • Aylesbury_Duck
    Aylesbury_Duck Posts: 13,989 Forumite
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    johnsmith1890 wrote: »
    You'd think the scroungers at TfL would at least have a leeway of, say, a couple of minutes, just to avoid this type of misunderstanding.
    You'd think drivers would delay entering the congestion zone for say, a couple of minutes, just to avoid getting fined.
  • DUTR
    DUTR Posts: 12,958 Forumite
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    Supersonos wrote: »
    I guess the problem is, what proof does the OP have? Unless they are absolutely certain it was after 6pm, it could be an expensive appeal.

    There's quite a delay these days between the radio studio and you hearing the presenter - not sure if radio stations try and compensate for that and there's a chance the OP was hearing it a minute or so earlier than intended?

    Nope the stations do not compensate for it, if anything the listener would hear the time late, listen to a station on DAB compared to FM and there is a few seconds delay, also TV vs radio or Terrestial vs satellite broadcasts..
    The OP informs they had various time sources, however irrespective they need to act on the source standard.
  • stator
    stator Posts: 7,441 Forumite
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    Aylesbury_Duck wrote: »
    As to a "grace period" or similar, you can see where that leads.

    "I've just been fined for entering the congestion zone at 18:03 when my clock and the car radio said it was 18:02....."
    Not at all, since you advertise the cut off as 18:00, you just don't send people fines if they were within the grace period of say 3 minutes.


    It works the same way with speeding limits. There's a small window above the speed limit where you don't get fined, but if you're caught over that you have to pay. Some people take their chances and drive at the speed slightly above the speed limit, but if they get caught above that, they get fined. They might whine as much as they like, but nothing changes.


    It's all just common sense.
    Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.
  • sheramber
    sheramber Posts: 19,109 Forumite
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    marlot wrote: »
    In the same way that the police have to show that their speed guns are routinely calibrated, if you wanted to challenge this, I guess you could be asking TfL to show that they take steps to show that their computer time is accurate.

    My computer is set to synchronise its time regularly, but when I go to https://time.is/ I see that it tells me that my clock is 0.7s behind. To an accuracy of +/- 0.033 seconds.

    But to challenge it would mean pleading not guilty and letting it go to court. Its up to you whether you're prepared to do that.

    I don't think it reasonable for them to issue a fine for 17.59 unless they can show to the satisfaction of the judge that it absolutely was before 18:00. What if the time was 17:59 and 50 seconds - but their clock was only accurate to +/- 1 minute?

    Otherwise what's to stop them if their clock is ten minutes out? Or an hour out?

    My computer is bang on with that site
  • Kentish_Dave
    Kentish_Dave Posts: 842 Forumite
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    johnsmith1890 wrote: »
    You'd think the scroungers at TfL would at least have a leeway of, say, a couple of minutes, just to avoid this type of misunderstanding.

    Not really. Whenever I go in around the cut-off I give it a few minutes extra just to be sure.

    It takes a special kind of entitlement to try to make TFL responsible for your own inability to make sure that you don’t get it wrong.
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