Congestion Charge BullCrap

[SirBlade]

I went into London on Thur the 24th
Went to the TFL site on Saturday at 21:10, and paid £12.

A few days later, I'm getting a PCN for £60

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the fk!

The call center person said we selected the wrong day, i.e. Fri 25th.

WTF kind of system is this? is it such bullst

[ratpick2000]

Why don't you just pay on the day and avoid any possible confusion?

[randlemarcus]

Did you go in on the Friday? If not, might be worth an appeal.

Aside from that, please note that you clicking the wrong button isn't a great excuse for anything. Sorry, but it's really not.

[Gruber]

I got caught out a couple of times - usually my own error - and decided it was cheaper and easier just to register for automatic payment. £10 to register, takes the daily price down to £9 and saves a shed load of aggro (as well as a few £60 fines).

[SirBlade]

randlemarcus said:

Did you go in on the Friday? If not, might be worth an appeal.

Aside from that, please note that you clicking the wrong button isn't a great excuse for anything. Sorry, but it's really not.

I wasn't in London on Friday.

I didn't fill in the website myself.

Why can't the damn website just says "you owe us...." and let that be the end of it.
What is all this bs about, in on Thursday, but you didn't pay us Friday either,
so paying us on Saturday only covers Friday....

JESUS WEPT!

[Gruber]

randlemarcus said:

Did you go in on the Friday? If not, might be worth an appeal.

Aside from that, please note that you clicking the wrong button isn't a great excuse for anything. Sorry, but it's really not.

I once paid for the wrong car. The penalty notice came in and I wrote back explaining that I'd been monumentally stupid, hadn't actually done them out of any money and would try hard never to do it again. And miraculously, they let me off.

[Snowboy]

Contact them, explain the mistake, they will check that you paid on Friday but weren’t in London on Friday and cancel your fine.
It happens all the time.

[Fats25]

I thought it was more than £60 PCN. I'm disappointed it is as little as this.... not really a deterrent.

My MIL and FIL drove into London recently, and they never paid either, this was on the Friday, and it was now Saturday afternoon. They said they would pay when they got home. I suggested that they pay it now, as otherwise they would get fined.

I could hear the FIL asking the operator if he had entered the CG zone! I think he thought it would flag up on her system where precisely he had driven. He paid it - and he had been in Russell Square, so he would have been caught.

[Deluded]

[quote=Fats25]I thought it was more than £60 PCN. I'm disappointed it is as little as this.... not really a deterrent.
quote]

Agreed. I wipe my arse with atleast £60 worth of £5 notes every morning.

[Gruber]

Fats25 said:

I thought it was more than £60 PCN. I'm disappointed it is as little as this.... not really a deterrent.

What??? £60 is daylight robbery.

My guess is that most people who fail to pay do so because they forgot or because they cocked up the payment process. Everyone knows the ANPR enforcement system is pretty st hot, so I doubt many people decide to chance it.

So given that most of the fines stem from forgetfulness or honest error, I would say £60 is unduly punishing.

[walm]

[Snowboy]

Gruber said:

So given that most of the fines stem from forgetfulness or honest error, I would say £60 is unduly punishing.

I know of around 5 people who have forgotten to pay, contacted the head office, explained their mistake and had the penalty dropped if they paid the £10 fee.

They keep records of forgetful people and you can only get away with it once in a while.
But, as far as things go, they aren’t a nasty bunch to deal with.

[clarkey328is]

Fats25 said:

I thought it was more than £60 PCN. I'm disappointed it is as little as this.... not really a deterrent.

My MIL and FIL drove into London recently, and they never paid either, this was on the Friday, and it was now Saturday afternoon. They said they would pay when they got home. I suggested that they pay it now, as otherwise they would get fined.

I could hear the FIL asking the operator if he had entered the CG zone! I think he thought it would flag up on her system where precisely he had driven. He paid it - and he had been in Russell Square, so he would have been caught.

Why does that disappoint you? Do you think it's fair to pay for the roads you want to use twice?
It shouldn't exist in the first place, but now that it does I don't even think they should be able to fine you more than the daily charge. After all, what revenue have they lost?

[SirBlade]

Snowboy said:

I know of around 5 people who have forgotten to pay, contacted the head office, explained their mistake and had the penalty dropped if they paid the £10 fee.

They keep records of forgetful people and you can only get away with it once in a while.
But, as far as things go, they aren’t a nasty bunch to deal with.

The £12 has already been paid, we received a receipt by email.
Then a PCN appears.
The person I spoke to in the call center was of no use.

[Gruber]

SirBlade said:

The person I spoke to in the call center was of no use.

They never are. But the PCN came with an appeal form. Fill it in, grovel and send it back.

[Terminator X]

No wonder cloning is on the rise, yet more rip off the motorist charges

TX.

[0000]

randlemarcus said:

Did you go in on the Friday? If not, might be worth an appeal.

Aside from that, please note that you clicking the wrong button isn't a great excuse for anything. Sorry, but it's really not.

Not a fan of usability then?

[jacobpalmer05]

So you paid your congestion charge two days after it was due, and its their fault you've got a PCN?

[Fats25]

clarkey328is said:

Why does that disappoint you? Do you think it's fair to pay for the roads you want to use twice?
It shouldn't exist in the first place, but now that it does I don't even think they should be able to fine you more than the daily charge. After all, what revenue have they lost?

We will have to agree to disagree. I think the congestion charge is excellent. So I suppose I do think it is fair to use the roads twice. A bit like I do when using the m6 toll road.

Therefore anyone deciding not to pay it deserves to be fined. Everyone knows London has a congestion charge, so read up on the rules before you travel, and there is no problem for anyone.

The rules are here if you are looking for them:-

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/congestioncharging...

[randlemarcus]

0000 said:

Not a fan of usability then?

Huge fan of usability. It doesn't excuse PICNIC errors though Certainly the site seemed clear enough when I used to use it, but it was possible to select the wrong thing, and not read the confirmation bits.