Congestion Charging Rip-off

[Doozergirl]

Hello,

I'm sorry, this is a long one!

On the night of 7th February, I returned from London and I used the TfL website to pay my congestion charge for that day. I ran through the whole process which included entering my credit card details and then verifying them with my bank. I then received a random error message from the website.

Assuming it hadn't processed, I then went back to the starting screen, entered my registration again and left the date as ‘today’. The website informed me that a charge had been logged for my registration and informed me I needed to change the date to make a payment.

I sent an email immediately to TfL to confirm that I had indeed paid the charge and asked for a receipt of payment. Two days later, I received a message back informing me that there was no payment showing...

So the long and short of it is that they sent me a penalty charge notice for £60 which I appealed. They have written back to me rejecting my appeal saying they have no record of their being a problem with the system and that it is my own responsibilty to ensure that the payment has been processed and that if I wasn't sure I should have called them on the phone or paid the Next Day fee. The fact that their webiste told me I had paid and that I contacted them by email immediately I think should be enough! The fact that they took two days (9th) to tell me that it hadn't processed and that I should have paid one day later(8th) is just rubbing my face in it!

I'm writing back restating what happened about 6 times and have given the time and date of a telelphone call I made, which they have asked for. I know it didn't process *now* and I've always accepted that I owe £8 so I am now sending them a cheque for £8 along with the letter.

Am I doing the right thing? Is what they are doing to me legal? There's a form for appealing to an independent body but it has tick boxes and my case doesn't really fall into those tick boxes, it's just a common sense thing, afaic.

Do I wait for them to take me to the County Court or do I attempt to use this Parking and Traffic Appeals service? I just cannot accept that I have to pay a penalty for their fault!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

You MUST use the appeals process. You will need to complete the forms and ultimately appeal to PATAS.

I know it's no use now, but when I get error messages I always take a sreen shot image.

Good luck!

[Doozergirl]

Thanks

I REALLY wish I had taken screen shots. I guess I'm too trusting which I will never be in future!

They've asked me for details of a telephone call, which I have provided which is why I'm sending it back to them right now. I can't see it really helping as it's only me telling them that they hadn't responded to my email, and explaining the situation over again. It does have the call centre man telling me that they had been having problems with the website and that they should waive the penalty for me... But these people can't make decisions.

Should I send this further representation to TfL and then wait for another reply before appealing to PATAS or should I go straight to PATAS? It's giving me a 28 days limit. Will that be from their rejection letter or will it start again when they reply to me again?

When I appeal to PATAS, should I enclose copies of all my letters (I'd rather do this than write it all out again!!) On grounds of appeal, do I tick the box that says "no penalty is payable under the charging scheme" or "the penalty exceeded the relevant amount" or something else!

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

You must make detailed notes of all your phone calls and sign and date them.
Use the time that you have to discuss with TFL for as long as they are willing to discuss but under no circumstances delay getting your appeal in to PATAS beyond the 28 day deadline.

[Doozergirl]

So I should take the 28 days from the date of their letter (6th March) and no longer than that?