Fined

[ChocolateFrog]

Got a fine for not paying the Mersey Gateway Bridge toll.

Fine, I didn't pay the charge.

The catch being I logged on 2 or 3 times to pay it, inputted my details and nothing came up, no details for my registration.

Assumed the cameras were off or the weather was too bad for them to see it, it was pouring down at the time.

Forgot all about it until the letter dropped today.



Leg to stand on or just suck it up?

[davek_964]

And the reason you didn't enter the car details manually was.....?

I think you might be misunderstanding the 'find my vehicle'. It's not trying to find it as a vehicle that went over the bridge - it's simply trying to find it in a database of registrations.

It failed, so you simply enter the car details - with your registration - and pay.

Edited by davek_964 on Thursday 26th June 18:07

[paul_c123]

I once didn't pay, because their online payment platform was faulty that day. I took screenshots of what it had done, and also contacted my bank (because there was an attempted payment which didn't go through). They twigged what happened and wrote a very supportive email in response to my query! Armed with that evidence when the penalty notice thing dropped through the mail, I had all the evidence to fight with. I 'won' my case, in that they reduced the penalty notice from £60 or whatever it was, to £2 which was the toll fee at the time.

I am guessing you just gave up when your car wasn't found by plate?

How much is the penalty charge nowadays?

[ChocolateFrog]

paul_c123 said:

I once didn't pay, because their online payment platform was faulty that day. I took screenshots of what it had done, and also contacted my bank (because there was an attempted payment which didn't go through). They twigged what happened and wrote a very supportive email in response to my query! Armed with that evidence when the penalty notice thing dropped through the mail, I had all the evidence to fight with. I 'won' my case, in that they reduced the penalty notice from £60 or whatever it was, to £2 which was the toll fee at the time.

I am guessing you just gave up when your car wasn't found by plate?

How much is the penalty charge nowadays?

Yeah I'd happily pay the charge, £50 reduced by half if paid within a couple of weeks.

[Pit Pony]

Not wanting to be a smug bd but kind of am. All the cars in our household are registered on our gateway account. 2 have a sticker in the window which gets the price down to £1.80 but which cost £5. (I'm up on that deal) Occassionally they take £20 via direct debit to top up my account. I probably only use it 10 times a year but it beats having to remember to pay.

Given I have family in North Wales and I live at the top end of Miseryside, I know that sooner or later I'm going over again.

[Pica-Pica]

Pit Pony said:

Not wanting to be a smug bd but kind of am. All the cars in our household are registered on our gateway account. 2 have a sticker in the window which gets the price down to £1.80 but which cost £5. (I'm up on that deal) Occassionally they take £20 via direct debit to top up my account. I probably only use it 10 times a year but it beats having to remember to pay.

Given I have family in North Wales and I live at the top end of Miseryside, I know that sooner or later I'm going over again.

I also have an anccount and one for the Dartford Crossing (both cars). I don’t use either much now, so they sit with a minimal amount on.

[Sheepshanks]

I've heard that if you 'phone up they usually let you off. I'd be especialliy hopeful if it doesn't recognise the reg and you've never used the crossing before.


We don't live far away from it and one of my daughters got a penatly notice, but it was obvious from the photo they'd mis-read the reg.
I was annoyed that they replied to the appeal with "on this occasion we'll waive the charge". Cheeky fickers - if it had been my car I'd have sent them a penalty invoice.

[B'stard Child]

Pica-Pica said:

I also have an anccount and one for the Dartford Crossing (both cars). I don t use either much now, so they sit with a minimal amount on.

Just a heads up if it’s not used for I think 2 years they close the account and refund the balance to whatever account is linked and if you don’t notice you get a nice (not) surprise when you do use the crossing and don’t bother to pay (because you have an on line account)

Also for anyone else remember if you sell a car that is on your crossing account remove it from your account (yes I didn’t and no I didn’t spot it till the account topped up) so the new owner got 5 free crossings

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

B'stard Child said:

Just a heads up if it s not used for I think 2 years they close the account and refund the balance to whatever account is linked

In fairness, they do email you well in advance of that, letting you know that your account will expire if you don’t log in. All you have to do is log in to confirm the account. The account is only closed if you do nothing, and I’d bet that you get an email confirming the closure.

[Simpo Two]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

B'stard Child said:

Just a heads up if it s not used for I think 2 years they close the account and refund the balance to whatever account is linked

In fairness, they do email you well in advance of that, letting you know that your account will expire if you don t log in. All you have to do is log in to confirm the account. The account is only closed if you do nothing, and I d bet that you get an email confirming the closure.

Why can't accounts just stay open? Are a few bytes of storage really that expensive?

[miniman]

Simpo Two said:

Why can't accounts just stay open? Are a few bytes of storage really that expensive?

No but the legislation around storing personal information is complex.

[OutInTheShed]

ChocolateFrog said:

Got a fine for not paying the Mersey Gateway Bridge toll.

Fine, I didn't pay the charge.

The catch being I logged on 2 or 3 times to pay it, inputted my details and nothing came up, no details for my registration.

Assumed the cameras were off or the weather was too bad for them to see it, it was pouring down at the time.

Forgot all about it until the letter dropped today.



Leg to stand on or just suck it up?

It's amazing how many of these sob stories turn out to be people being punished for having vanity plates.
I think there's a DVLA task force out to get you!
Or more likely a bunch of IT slackers who couldn't be bothered to spec and test the software beyond the immediately obvious.

[E-bmw]

OutInTheShed said:

ChocolateFrog said:

Got a fine for not paying the Mersey Gateway Bridge toll.

Fine, I didn't pay the charge.

The catch being I logged on 2 or 3 times to pay it, inputted my details and nothing came up, no details for my registration.

Assumed the cameras were off or the weather was too bad for them to see it, it was pouring down at the time.

Forgot all about it until the letter dropped today.



Leg to stand on or just suck it up?

It's amazing how many of these sob stories turn out to be people being punished for having vanity plates.
I think there's a DVLA task force out to get you!
Or more likely a bunch of IT slackers who couldn't be bothered to spec and test the software beyond the immediately obvious.

I (obviously) don't know if this is true or applicable to the OP but if number plate spacing is "doctored" in any way it must make the task of civilian ANPR systems like this more unreliable.

[nvubu]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

In fairness, they do email you well in advance of that, letting you know that your account will expire if you don t log in. All you have to do is log in to confirm the account. The account is only closed if you do nothing, and I d bet that you get an email confirming the closure.

Thought I'd logon to check and my email address is unrecognised - last payment was in March 2024 - don't think I've crossed since. Have emailed customer services to see if it can be sorted out.

[B'stard Child]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

B'stard Child said:

Just a heads up if it s not used for I think 2 years they close the account and refund the balance to whatever account is linked

In fairness, they do email you well in advance of that, letting you know that your account will expire if you don t log in. All you have to do is log in to confirm the account. The account is only closed if you do nothing, and I d bet that you get an email confirming the closure.

That may be the case but I got nothing........... And my email rarely puts stuff in spam (it has to be really bloody obviously spam)

[donkmeister]

ChocolateFrog said:

Leg to stand on or just suck it up?

It looks like you are adding a space between the numbers and letters. That's not how a numberplate is parsed.

Oh sure, if I were the person coding such a system I'd have it strip out spaces on entered data. A quick check shows the government MOT checker does indeed strip spaces however I've had other forms autopopulate with a space after the reg and sure enough, fail.

Also... Respect on the reg-to-car value ratio

[TVR Griffith]

That screams old money :-)

None of this "leasing a brand new car to impress the neighbours" nonsense! Hah

[donkmeister]

Wealth whispers... And it whispers in Romanian

[paul_c123]

E-bmw said:

I (obviously) don't know if this is true or applicable to the OP but if number plate spacing is "doctored" in any way it must make the task of civilian ANPR systems like this more unreliable.

I'm not sure what you could do with 53PU, what else would it be doctored to read?

Is this still attached to the Dacia Duster?

[E-bmw]

paul_c123 said:

E-bmw said:

I (obviously) don't know if this is true or applicable to the OP but if number plate spacing is "doctored" in any way it must make the task of civilian ANPR systems like this more unreliable.

I'm not sure what you could do with 53PU, what else would it be doctored to read?

Is this still attached to the Dacia Duster?

I wasn't saying it was, or was even referring to the OP's reg, just making the statement that plates with "doctored" spacings must confuse some systems.