Dart charge fine appeal - any experience?

[essIII]

Back in September 2018 I bought a new car. On the 18th I registered it on my dart charge account, and crossed the Dartford crossing in both directions.

On Friday I received a fine for an unpaid crossing - the unpaid crossing is one of the ones on the 18th September.

Looking at my payment history it looks like neither of the two crossings from that date have been charged to my account. Beyond registering my car details against my dart charge account I'm not sure what else I could/should have done to pay this - surely it's system failure on their part?

Anyway, obviously more than happy to pay for the two crossings, but not happy to pay the fine so have appealed. Has anyone been through a similar process? Did you have any success?

[DaveH23]

On the 5 or 6 times I have forgot to pay I have phoned up when I received a charge letter and paid the crossing fee with no fine.

[Plate spinner]

Yup, similar scenario to you. I phoned them showing the sign up confirmation reference that took place before the crossings. They agreed to me paying the crossings with no fines. The guy on the phone was understating and helpful, no quibble, was a 5min phone call.

[essIII]

Plate spinner said:

Yup, similar scenario to you. I phoned them showing the sign up confirmation reference that took place before the crossings. They agreed to me paying the crossings with no fines. The guy on the phone was understating and helpful, no quibble, was a 5min phone call.

Perfect. Now just need to find a phone number on their website! Cheers!

Edit: found it!

Edited by essIII on Saturday 11th May 19:10

[sgtbash]

Done the same, forgot to pay, got a letter, paid it with no fine after contacting.

[S11Steve]

As above, phone them. They are definitely one of the more flexible issuing authorities, and I have regular contact with their fleet team.

You'll need the account details and the PCN numbers, and even though you updated it online on the 18th, I understand it often doesn't migrate across all of their system until the following day.

[Blanco92]

Possible explanation why one crossing is okay and the other not...

I’m not a local to that end of the world, had no idea. Did the crossing enroute to a wedding. Of course some drinks happened, I totally forgot to pay until the return journey and then paid for 2 crossings.

Ended up getting a penalty. Called them up and they explained my first payment was too late to register for the first crossing, but the second was accepted okay. Then they offered me to pay the charge for the first crossing (without the fine). It simply meant that I’ve now paid for 3 crossings and my next one is pre-paid.

For sure it’s a bit convoluted but if the car was previously owned by a local, it’s possible.

[jonwm]

Of the 3 tolls I've forgot to pay, dart charge, M6, and liverpool new one. The only one to not accept the late payment was the liverpool one.

I've been late a few times with dart and have always been more than accommodating.

Fyi the M6 one I followed a car in to quick so the barrier stayed up and I drove through after it wouldnt take my card (it thinks the other car had a trailer or something. I didn't just blast through the closed barrier