Dartford crossing

[Bod ...]

I crossed the bridge and tunnel one day early July.

Forgot to pay so opened an account so not happen again, hoping that I wouldn't receive a penalty charge.

Well never heard anything until yesterday. Got an increased charge from £70 to £105 + £2.50 × 2 = £215.00

Do you think they were reasonable and understanding when I called and explained and that I didn't get the first penalty charge.

 

[blup]

Never thought the increased penalty was fair, its not right to discourage an appeal in this way.

Blup

 

[JP_]

The system sucks. I used to just pay for each crossing, but recently set up an account again (they closed the last one because I wasn't using it enough!). Now it is supposed to be automated, but I keep hearing horror stories of people crossing and not being charged, then being fined.

And they have no customer support. No response to my email or calls asking if I still had unused crossings for my car, so probably paid twice the last time I went.

 

[Roy Bloom]

I crossed the bridge and tunnel one day early July.

Forgot to pay so opened an account so not happen again, hoping that I wouldn't receive a penalty charge.

Well never heard anything until yesterday. Got an increased charge from £70 to £105 + £2.50 × 2 = £215.00

Do you think they were reasonable and understanding when I called and explained and that I didn't get the first penalty charge.

Did you call and explain that you forgot to pay?
Or did you just open the account.

Just for info'
The ULEZ account on the TfL site does not allow automatic payments for the ULEZ or CG zones. You have to go to another out-sourced website to enable the payments to be made.
I made that mistake, I opened an account for ULEZ and CG auto payments, only to receigve a penalty for non-payment.
I queried it, to find out you have to register both with TfL and with the out-sourced site.
I queried the reason for logging bank card details with TfL if the payments were not made from that site. They did not provide any logical reason for it. But they did scrap that penalty charge.

Incidentally, if you do appeal, your penalty time line is frozen so no extra charges will be applied.

 

[Roy Bloom]

The system sucks. I used to just pay for each crossing, but recently set up an account again (they closed the last one because I wasn't using it enough!). Now it is supposed to be automated, but I keep hearing horror stories of people crossing and not being charged, then being fined.

And they have no customer support. No response to my email or calls asking if I still had unused crossings for my car, so probably paid twice the last time I went.

I've always had replies from both TfL and Dartford crossings, admittedly belatedly, but they do eventually.

The last reply from TfL was about a scam text received on my phone asking for a penalty payment. I've never logged my phone number with them.
But I queried it with TfL and it took them about a month to reply.

 

[Bod ...]

The system sucks. I used to just pay for each crossing, but recently set up an account again (they closed the last one because I wasn't using it enough!). Now it is supposed to be automated, but I keep hearing horror stories of people crossing and not being charged, then being fined.

And they have no customer support. No response to my email or calls asking if I still had unused crossings for my car, so probably paid twice the last time I went.

I had an account that I had to be in credit. To my memory I had £70 in my account.

I then stopped the work that took me over the river. But I still had £70 + credit. A year or two later I crossed in my van and I got a fine.

I contested this as I had £70+ credit. Their answer was "that because you haven't used it the account had become dormant and was wiped clear.

 

[fivearches]

I think I received an Email and had to reactivate my account last year as now I very really use it to dangerous to go up north of the tunnel funny people up there..

 

[denso13]

I crossed the bridge and tunnel one day early July.

Forgot to pay so opened an account so not happen again, hoping that I wouldn't receive a penalty charge.

Looking at the ULEZ thread the answer seems simple. Vandalise all the cameras/detectors by whatever means and you'll never have to pay again. Sorted...

 

[Roy Bloom]

I had an account that I had to be in credit. To my memory I had £70 in my account.

I then stopped the work that took me over the river. But I still had £70 + credit. A year or two later I crossed in my van and I got a fine.

I contested this as I had £70+ credit. Their answer was "that because you haven't used it the account had become dormant and was wiped clear.

What happened to the £70?

If you had explained to them as fully as you have here, they might have waived the penalty. Plus any discussion with them should have frozen the time periods applied.

 

[Bod ...]

What happened to the £70?

If you had explained to them as fully as you have here, they might have waived the penalty. Plus any discussion with them should have frozen the time periods applied.

They just closed my account as it was inactive for a long period of time.

I can only assume the £70 went towards the Christmas party

 

[Bod ...]

The moral of the story is I spoke to them nicely and said I'm more than happy to pay the £70 × 2 = £140.

He put me on hold to talk to his manager. Come back and put me through to payments were I only had to pay the £2.50 x 2 = £5.00 for the crossings .

Good things do happen, that made up for the near on £5grand over due bill from the HMRC that come through the same day.

 

[JP_]

I think I got my money back when they closed my account - it was less than a tenner, which I think was the minimum amount on the account.
It was during the pandemic that I was told I wasn't driving south of the river enough!

 

[motorbiking]

I’ve always had good experiences with the dartford crossing people. I guess they don’t want to **** off all their customers so that they choose other routes.

Don’t mind paying the toll either as their is a services being provided.

 

[Mottie]

I have auto top up on my account. Simple. As soon as my account goes below a tenner, it automatically tops up by another tenner direct from my bank account. It’s a straight £2 per crossing. Even so, I often wonder how my balance got to this:

 

[Mottie]

I guess they don’t want to **** off all their customers so that they choose other routes.

Blackwall tunnel or Woolwich ferry? You 'aving a laff?