Thread: Congestion Charge PCN. - What are the legal requirements?

I received a pcn yesterday for straying into the New, extended congestion charging zone. It was a silly mistake that had been annoyed at myself for making, but when i couldn't physically find anywhere convenient to pay it that afternoon, I went to Wales for an important family event and promptly forgot all about it, until i received the PCN.

I am totally shocked at the draconian fining system we are faced with in London. I have previously been clamped and fined for scratching off the next days date on a visitors permit (Lambeth) and towed and fined for parking in a residents bay next to the pay and display bay for which i had purchased a ticket (Also Lambeth). I realise i have to pay for my mistakes but really, this harshly?

I am not contesting the fact that i should have paid the congestion charge but a £60 fine 4 days after forgetting to pay an £8 charge seems silly. I have decided to try and stand up against this very harsh penalty.

I read on another, older website forum that the wording of a PCN needs to be exact in order to be legal. Specifically that it should say " ...beginning with the date of issue of this notice" and not "...beginning with the date of service of this notice" - as mine says. Does anyone know if this is true and if this also applies to Congestion Charge PCNS? Where can i get access to the laws that govern these things? - Road User Charges 2001, and The Greater London Congestion Charging Order 2004.

If anyone can help me here it may be a small victory for the much publicly flogged motorist!

Many Thanks.



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Not being an expert on the congestion charge I cannot comment but doubt very much that Tfl would be sending out invalidly worded PCNs so long after its implementation.

i understand you feel hard done by but you best pay it.
next thing you will have baliffs.
i have come across a thread where a small fine became £1700 through baliff fees,
for sixty quid, is it worth it
and put it down to experience

Originally Posted by postggj

i understand you feel hard done by but you best pay it.
next thing you will have baliffs.
i have come across a thread where a small fine became £1700 through baliff fees,
for sixty quid, is it worth it
and put it down to experience

Could be even worse ...no car at all!!

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...k-sold-my.html

you could post up the pcn - suitably washed of personal details.

all kinds of weird things have gone on in the past with CC PCNs

Originally Posted by lamma

you could post up the pcn - suitably washed of personal details.

all kinds of weird things have gone on in the past with CC PCNs

What do you mean? Do you understand these things better than me?

PCNs can be flawed.

CC charging is outsourced - there are known examples of 'adminstrative errors' (cough). such as pics taken outside the charging times, doctored evidence etc. impossible to get a refund if you pay twice by mistake, the payments website 'playing up' - always to the disadvantage of the motorist.

may not apply in your case but there is only one way to find out.

Thanks for the suggestion Lamma. Have sctratched out personal details and scanned the document but i cant work out how to post it up here!
The "Insert Image" option asks for a URL and i can't seem to browse my computers files...
-Help anyone :-?

I recently got a pcn, I rarely go into the zone maybe once or twice a year, this is the second PCN I have got. I forget easily becase I don't drive every day. I remembered about the last one two days after when I was reading the metro newspaper and read that Boris Johnson forgot to pay the charge.

I just reluctantly paid the £60 PCN). However as a concerned citizen I am worried about the extortionate amount that needed to be paid, £60 is excessive and what really bothers me is that if they can automatically send you a PCN why can't they automatically charge for entering the zone, what is the point of registering the car?!

It is a big con, I would be interested to know what revenue was earned from CC PCN's for 2008.

Don't make life easy for them, phone them up everytime you need to pay the charge, they may soon enough get ****ed with everyone calling them, and force them to implement the automatic payment system. I didn't vote for Borris, but i'd sugget everyone gets on his case about this one.

Originally Posted by aconcernedcitizen

Iwhat really bothers me is that if they can automatically send you a pcn why can't they automatically charge for entering the zone, what is the point of registering the car?!

When the CC was conceived it was not to raise money but to deter people from driving in central London. Ken after taking advice decided that having to physically pay each time you went into the zone would make drivers more aware about using the zone and realise how much it was costing them rather than just automatically charging them by direct debit. Boris however has decided that it will soon be possible to just register and then get the money debited each time you enter. Whilst this may seem like a great idea you may not think so if someone clones your plates and you get a few weeks charges debited before you get a bank statement and realise.

I had the misfortune of having to travel to London, inside the M25 for the first time in about 20 years yesterday. I was in Hayes near

Heathrow

and passed through some green signs that I think said something about Low

Emissions Zone. What the hell is this a I've never heard of this one before and hope it has nothing to do with the congestion charge zone. if it has the CC zone must be about 15 mile out from central London which can't be right!

Originally Posted by pin1onu

[left]
Its another one of Crazy Ken's schemes to cut emissions in London

Trying to cut polution in one of the most densley populated cities in Europe is not really that crazy? Seems far more sensible than paying people to design a new 'routemaster bus' or any of Boris' other mad cap ideas.

Originally Posted by green_and_mean

When the CC was conceived it was not to raise money but to deter people from driving in central London. Ken after taking advice decided that having to physically pay each time you went into the zone would make drivers more aware about using the zone and realise how much it was costing them rather than just automatically charging them by direct debit. Boris however has decided that it will soon be possible to just register and then get the money debited each time you enter. Whilst this may seem like a great idea you may not think so if someone clones your plates and you get a few weeks charges debited before you get a bank statement and realise.

I am a supporter of the C-Charge. However when you do need to travel through London either on a regular basis or rarely, I feel they should at least give you a choice whether you want to be automatically charged. You are after all paying for a service.