Jump to content


style="text-align: center;">  

Thread Locked

because no one has posted on it for the last 1580 days.

If you need to add something to this thread then

 

Please click the "Report " link

 

at the bottom of one of the posts.

 

If you want to post a new story then

Please

Start your own new thread

That way you will attract more attention to your story and get more visitors and more help 

 

Thanks

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone

 

I used Dartford crossing on 25-11-2018 and paid the fee online using the website that appeared when searching.

I paid £6 for my small car and at the time did not think anything of it as I have never been there before.

I moved house in December 2018 and changed my address on my vehicle registration

 

2 months later I received a letter (to wrong address) stating I had not paid the charge.

I then contacted them the same day and advised I actually paid it as soon as we have crossed over.

 

I was advised then to submit evidence in the form of my bank statement showing the charge which I did via email.

I received another email then a letter (wrong address again) stating I had not paid the charge and I was now being charge more due to time scales.

 

I have now received 2 letters from Marston 

-  First one stating that a warrant has been issued by Northampton County Court 

- I have heard nothing from NCC,

 

and the second stating I now must pay £190 otherwise an enforcement officer will attend my property and take belongings etc etc and more fees will be charged.

I have until midnight on 13th August to contact or pay.

 

Can anyone advise me please?

Link to post
Share on other sites

In the first instance, from your above post, you appear to have made a single journey on the Dartford Crossing and you were driving a 'small car'. If so, then a Dart Charge payment of £2.50 would be payable and not a fee of £6.00.

 

Are you sure that the payment that you made was to Dart Charge?

The reason for asking is because there are a number of 'unofficial' selling websites' on the net.

The link below from Transport for London (in relation to the daily TfL congestion charge) is a prime example?

 

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge/unofficial-selling-websites

 

On the bank statement, it should show which company your £6 payment was made to.

PS: What was the date that payment was made.

 

Unless you have two unpaid crossing fees, it would be usual to just receive ONE letter from Marston's.

That letter would be entitled Notice of Enforcement  and would be requesting payment of £190.50.

What is the 2nd letter?

 

Please be reassured that even though a warrant has been issued, there is no judgment entered against you and your credit rating is not in any way affected. 

 

You mention that the initial letters from Dart Charge and Marston's have the wrong address.

 

Can you explain a little more?

Link to post
Share on other sites

HiI

 

Thanks for reply.

 

I made a single journey northbound on 25th NOV 2018 and was driving a toyota aygo,

I had no idea what the charges were supposed to be as had never been there before.

 

My sister in law advised me to make sure it is paid by midnight next day

therefore I went online straight after crossing (my partner was driving) and paid £6 as requested.

 

I cannot remember the website, however, on the bank statement it states 25NOV18 DARTCROSSING CHARGE, BRISTOL GB.

 

The first 2 PCN letters were sent to my old address.

I also contacted via email and the 3rd letter (notice of rejection) was sent to my new address.

Both Marston letters were sent to new address.

 

I apologise as I think I got a bit mixed up with what went where!

 

First Marston letter is notice of enforcement,

Second letter is simply a demand to pay or contact them immedicately or an agent will visit and yes it is £190.50

 

Thanks

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Almost certainly you have grounds to submit a Dart Charge Out of Time witness statement to the Traffic Enforcement Centre.

All bailiff enforcement will be placed on hold for approx. 4-6 weeks whilst a decision is made. 

 

The entry on your bank statement is evidence that a payment was made.

Was the payment actually deducted from your account on 25th November?

 

What may well have happened (and unfortunately, this is fairly common) is that you may have input the wrong registration number when making payment.

Entering the letter O for zero is a common example. 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi

I completed an appeal form with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal service. 

 

I have just received a reply stating I need to complete a witness statement and that this should have been included with the enforcement order which it was not.

 

They have given me a link to an online form.

 

Do I have to contact Marston at any point regarding this?

 

I have just spoken to County Court and she is sending me correct forms but I only have until 4pm today!

Wish me luck

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

update 

My Out of time was declined and I cannot afford to have a judge look at it.

 

Marston's have been to my house today and left a letter which is a removal notice saying I now owe £425.50 for an original charge of £2.50 that I believed I had paid. In fact I paid £6!!

 

I have emailed Dart charge again with proof of payment.

 

Any ideas what else I can do please?

 

Thanks

Link to post
Share on other sites

I had mentioned in an earlier post that I was concerned that you may have made payment to an 'unofficial' website. Have you at any time spoken to Dart Charge (on 0300 300 0120) to ask them whether or not they had received your payment?

 

I say this because: at least once a month, I receive enquiries regarding payments made for Dartford Crossing fees and where the payment is not recorded with Highways England. In each case, the payment made for a single crossing had been £6  (as opposed to the CORRECT crossing fee of £2.50) or £12 for a return crossing (which should only be £5).  In each of the cases, the bank statement shows the following:

 

DartfordCrossingCharge Bristol 000

 

I look forward to your response.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi

 

Sorry did not notice that. Yes I contacted them.immediately after getting their first letter (sent to wrong address) and they advised to send in proof which I did ( and have done  several times). They advised they do not have payment registered and did say the site may not have paid it to them.

Is there anything I can do if I have used an unofficial site? 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Opps you got sc@mmed then??

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

Link to post
Share on other sites

The problem with using an 'unofficial' website is that it is very difficult to know which company you paid. Each of these 'unoffical' websites offer to accept payment for using the Dartford Crossing ( Merseyflow Toll and even Transport for London Congestion Charges)  but crucially, each one charges an admin fee. In your case, the fee (of £3.50) was more than DOUBLE the Dartford crossing fee !!

 

I do not want in any way to be critical of any paritcular one of these sites as each of them may well accept payment and pass it on to the OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT source..(in this case; Highways England) in a timely manner. 

 

As the payment reference in your case mentioned 'Bristol', I have selected the following website:

https://paydartfordcharge.co.uk/about.php

 

As you can see, the choice of domain name (paydartfordcharge.co.uk) ensures that it would be picked by motorists seeking to make payment for using the Dartford Crossing. 

 

The Disclaimer page is of interest:

 
Quote

 

Disclaimer

Our service is not connected to or affiliated with the http://gov.uk/pay-dartford-crossing-charge sit or any other official authority administering, regulating or overseeing the Dartford crossing charge. 

 

By proceeding, to apply online, you have agreed to our terms and conditions. We charge a service fee for assisting you in the application and payment of the Dartford crossing charge. We comply with the Data Protection Act and assure that this data will only be used to process your application. You will be asked to provide your personal information to receive your Dartford crossing charge payment confirmation, you must review the Terms and Privacy Policy. 

Our service fee is payable on completion of the Dartford crossing charge form on this website.

 

Ownership: This site is owned by 'Sarah Jones Trading as http://paydartfordcharge.co.uk/ of 14 finnesterre Parade, Portishead, Bristol. BS20 7GJ

 

 

If it is the case that you had made payment to this website, then I would suggest that you view the following webpage:

http://paydartfordcharge.co.uk/refund.php

 

Then there is this separate website. Notice that the domain name is almost the same but with a dot com instead of dot.co.uk

https://paydartfordcharge.com/terms-and-conditions.php

In this case, the website is owned by a DIFFERENT organisation calling themselves:

 

Dartcharge

34 New House

67-68 Hatton Garden

London EC1N 8JY. 

 

PS: The company does not even trade as a Limited Company. 

 

For anyone reading this thread, PLEASE make sure that when using the Dartford Crossing that payments are made using the OFFICIAL  government website:

https://www.gov.uk/pay-dartford-crossing-charge

 

The following webpage from Saga (the insurance company) is worthy of reading !!!

 

https://www.saga.co.uk/magazine/motoring/cars/using/three-online-scams-targeting-drivers

 

 

Edited by Bailiff Advice
Link to post
Share on other sites

but ofcourse I bet not the bailiff fees??

 

dx

 

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Well we had to pay Marston's Holdings bailiff this morning as there is a warrant apparently.

They said they would clamp my car which happens to be a works lease car (council) and remove goods if not paid by 8am.

 

We did not know what to do so had to pay £425.50 - if I had been alone I could not have paid that amount :(

They are sending us a form to complete to appeal...(again) and they were surprised at a Judge not accepting my proof of payment.

 

I will be seeking legal advice, however, I wondered if it is worth writing to Chief Executive of Highways England Mr Jim O'Sullivan to complain and include my evidence from bank statement? Or is there another way to deal with this?

 

If anyone has any sort of template letter I could use I would be extremely grateful.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Unless I've missed it I don't think you have confirmed which site you paid the crossing charge to.

It seems likely that you inadvertently paid the DartCharge to a 'look alike' site that isn't the official Dartford Crossing payment page.

 

In that case your 'proof of payment' would not, unfortunately, be proof of payment to Highways England because you didn't pay Highways England,. You paid someone else who isn't authorised to receive money on behalf of Highways England.

Link to post
Share on other sites

No I did not confirm the site as I do not know which site it was.

 

It was the first (and last ) time I had travelled on that road and I paid what I thought was the correct fee.

 

I have been through every stage of this and still end up paying £425.50! This is extortion!

 

I would now gladly pay the £2.50 again if they would allow it.

I already paid £6.

 

If you read Bailiff advice's post he has found a website that may be the one used as my bank statement states Bristol in the transaction and this website is owned by someone in that area (albeit a private home when googled).

 

I will do my damnedest to get this money back and am seeing legal advise.

If the original money has been taken then it is theft.

Link to post
Share on other sites

sadly its not extortion neither is it theft.

you unwittingly used a sc@mmers site to pay a dart charge

you got had.

you don't need legal advice

you need to follow through with that sites complaint form.

 

they are liable for not paying TfL

you get the bailiff fees back out of them

 

id they don't refund you

you take them to small claims court.

as this will be an important win for everyone that get Sc@mmed by these sites.

 

dx

 

 

please don't hit Quote...just type we know what we said earlier..

DCA's view debtors as suckers, marks and mugs

NO DCA has ANY legal powers whatsoever on ANY debt no matter what it's Type

and they

are NOT and can NEVER  be BAILIFFS. even if a debt has been to court..

If everyone stopped blindly paying DCA's Tomorrow, their industry would collapse overnight... 

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks dx

 

I have emailed the business and I have requested a refund on the form provided by them.

 

I have noticed on Saga.co.uk there is an article referring to the same website and a paragraph from another motorist who also received PCN for same journey at around same time as us. 

 

'At the end of November 2018 I was travelling on the M 25 over the Dartford Bridge and returning the next day. So I went online the night before and thought I had paid for a return journey at a cost of £12.

 

My Tesco MasterCard shows a payment of £12 to

"DartfordCrossingCharge Bristol 000“. I have now had to pay £70 fine plus the correct charge of £5 because the official site did not get my money.

 

There must be so many people being tricked by this false website , so why can it not be taken down?

 

The Dart Crossing company isn’t interested. Perhaps because they are also making money from the [problem] every time someone like me makes a mistake?'

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 Caggers

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Have we helped you ...?


×
×
  • Create New...