CC for London want £180 even though I'm eligible for a refund of the charge anyway!

[caguser]

Hello, would be grateful for any advice on this.

We took our son to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) on 18th Jan this year-I had been told that, because we are going to Immunology, we are eligible for a refund on the congestion charge (which was confirmed by Transport for London (TFL)). GOSH also gave us a parking permit for a nearby street (more of which later!)
Anyway, the appointment went badly, we were stressed and tired and we completely forgot to pay the charge until we received a letter about it.
I then sent off a letter to TFL enclosing the representation explaining why we were late in paying and a copy of the GOSH permitto show attendance at GOSH at that date.
A few weeks later I received a letter informing me I had to pay £180...so I called them and they tell me they've never received anything from me.

I sent the same again (though obviously not the representation form as the original was sent the first time). I've had a letter back today telling me that, regardless, I have to pay
£180 within 14 days.

I had forgot to mention in both my letters that we are actually eligible for a refund anyway which I am going to do today but I really don't have £180 to pay these people full stop. Do I have any other avenues available to me if I feel they've been harsh in their judgement?

I would be very grateful for any advice as I have 14 days from today.

Thank you

[lookinforinfo]

Knowing TFL, there was no way that they would be the company making the refund. So the fact that you were getting a refund from the hospital or your local council would get little sympathy from TFL.

I totally dislike the system whereby the onus is on the driver to remember to pay the charge. I forgot by two hours in the early days to pay and really resented having to fork out such a grossly inflated fine out of all proportion to the offence.

The very unfair regulation is that you have a limited time within which to pay the charge, and as you didn't pay within the stipulated time the fine stands.
Forgetting to pay is not a valid reason for waiving the charge.