Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
Hiya im really sorry to hear about your trouble.. We had a similiar incident last year... Only ever been to London a handful of times we were taking our son as an emergency to great ormond street hospital for sick children. To be honest nothing was further from our mind than congestion charge.. Of course we got the letter stating we hadnt paid i appealed.. They never got the letter... The bill went up i appealed again. sent it recorded this time.. Guess what? The letter never got there.. So i emailed every 2 days wanting details about me appeal.. Nothing had ever been receieved.. Ive now paid the 150 congestion fee and on the first stage of complaints.. Not sure how im going to get on.. Even got a letter from the hospital to say we were there as an emergency.. I know there are obviously people who dont and wont pay. But i feel in times likes this the fee should be waived..
Will keep you posted
still no response as yet. Just wrote a complaint to the director. Although it does state that this shouldnt be done till stage two is completed but im fed up with getting no where..
karen
Sadly this is why they get away with it. They know most people are far too busy to have the time to pursue these things, and for a lot of people, particularly the executives and self-employed travelling through London, it would cost them more in time, money and stress to fight these things than it would cost just to pay them and get on with their lives.
The whole issue of parking and congestion charges is a national disgrace in my opinion, nothing more than a way to make money. Why should we have to pay to drive and park on roads that our road fund licence is supposed to have paid for (not forgetting fuel tax, insurance premium tax, new car tax, VAT that motorists have to fork out)?
There may well be too many cars on the roads but the government, and national and local level are just using it as an excuse to fleece us with these charges, then fleece us even further by, in my opinion, illegaly fining us without a trial for our victimless "crime".
I only mouth my opinion, please look elsewhere for sensible advice!
They probably won't respond to you unless you go through stage one first.
You should expect a response (if you ask for a call or an email) inside 3 working days. If you haven't had a response inside that time, contact them again.
You can complain to stage one one of three ways: You can email, you can post a letter (if you do, do it recorded because then you can make them follow up on the RD number) and you can also call the call centre and make a complaint through them. Doing it through the call centre will give you an instant reference number (although make sure they read back to you what you've said) and if you get no response, you will have a reference to follow up that will show permanently on the system (unlike emails that can get lost). Oh, you can also complain via the website.
stage one doesn't generally ignore emails, so i would suggest that you email truly has got lost, but it's worth following up. You could follow it up by calling the call centre and asking for them to look up reference (enquiry) numbers by your name. That would be whatever name was on the email, so if you have something random (or an unusual surname) it might nto be successful.
maverick,
Thanks for advice. I have today had a reply from the stage one appeal proccess. Turned down and not got to go on to stage two which i have done and sent recorded delivery. Still had no response from the director though haha..
Im not just trying to get out of paying and after this emergency have taken my son back and forth to the hospital and always paid the congestion charge.
Its just this one time when we were rushed there as a medical emergency. I know they cant let everyone off that writes and complains but surely in a situation like this its a bit different.
Do you have any knowledge of stage 2?
not got to go on to stage two? I don't understand?
When you sent your second rep (the recorded delivery one) was it still inside the 28 days?
You are highly unlikely to get the appeal accepted, even at stage two.
You're right, they can't let everyone off, but unfortuantely, your situation is not so different to many peoples' complaints/reasons for not paying the charge.
I'm afraid, unless you were literally at your child's bedside for 48hours straight for fea they were dying, they're not likely to accept it.
That's why i say that your chances are higher if they have made a procedural error.
If you sent your recorded delivery rep within the first 28 days and they have not responded, then it may be that there's a procedural error. If you sent your recorded delivery rep *after* 28 days, then i would say in this instance, you're not going to win. IF you send a rep after 28 days (as they didn't receive the first one) they don't have to respond to it. even if they DIDN'T recevie the recorded delivery rep, because they don't have to consider it, all they need to do is send the charge cert.
If you had left it until £155, you would have had the chance to make a stat dec on grounds that you didn't recevie a response. unfortuantely, you paid it at charge cert, which means you've lost that opportunity.
Your only option now i guess is to jump up and down at stage two as loudly as you can. beware, that although they SAY they respond in 10 days, it's not likely to be anywhere near that fast.
congestion charge
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