Ulez paid on the day, bank paid the amount but merchant did not take after 7 days

[Cayman41]

I have evidence from my bank exact date and time paid to tfl £12.50. after few weeks received penanlty fine. I appealed and provided details that payment was made. I am a painter decorator and I work nationwide sometimes I come back after few months due to work commitment. Pcn was refused, which I was unaware as not received letter. But tfl had my email address and contact to correspond to as i had filed this online. I was advised to start Stat dec and out of time process. This was refused due to not a valid reason for the delay. I am over the 14 days process to file n244 form. Bailiffs have turned up and now are requesting for £550.00. This is outrageous unlawful amount. I had provided proof that payment was made. the bank has confirmed payment was made to tfl, but the merchant for TFL even after 7 days did not take payment. I am stressed out and bailiffs are requesting this unlawful amount. I will appreciate if someone can help me as £12.50 amount paid is now in the hands of marstons and are not complying even I have provided evidence.

[R0b]

Hello

As much as you might argue the sum you are being chased for is unlawful, as it stands it will be deemed lawful unless a court says otherwise. A few things immediately spring to mind and if you can answer that would be helpful to know.

1. Did you receive the letter from TFL refusing your appeal? If yes, what were the reasons when you supplied evidence it was paid on your end? If not, have you asked for a copy of the letter refusing the appeal? If you haven't then you should do that immediately, and if necessary, send a subject access request for that information.

2. Did you inform TFL that you were working in other parts of the country and ask them to correspond via email as you will have no means to be able to receive the letter until some time after it was issued due to your work committments? Again, if you didn't, why did you not do this knowing you may or may not be around when the letter arrives? Do you have a partner, family member or friend who could have checked your mail to see if it was received?

3. Can you explain more about the refusal of the stat dec please? Did you select the option that said you already paid on time or did you select another option?

Unfortunately, you have very limited options here. Normally, the route would be a judicial review application to the High Court which is a very expensive process to kick off, expect to costs of either side to be in the region of tens of thousands so I would advise against that especially as I'm not convinced you have a concrete case based on your subsequent actions and conduct.

Another option is to pay the £550 and be done with it and take this as a harsh lesson to learn even though you might be technically right that you paid as requested.

An alternative, but not guaranteed option is, if you pay the £550 now, you could start legal proceedings against the authority for a claim in restitution - basically a claim to recover overpaid sums gained by the authority. I would suggest you get in writing (to both TFL and Marstons) that you are willing to pay the sum of £550 but you are only doing so under duress and you intend to immediately start proceedings for restitution against TFL on the basis that TFL have already been paid and it was their merchant that failed to request payment from your bank. You could try doing this without paying the bailiff but the problem is that the bailiff may escalate to the next stage and increase costs which you may have to pay out for as those won't be recoverable under your claim.

I suspect that TFL would argue your claim is not valid because the correct process is judicial review, however I think it's a valid argument to say judicial review is based on the conduct and actions around TFL and how they arrived at the decision to refuse your appeal, whereas a restitution claim is an equitable claim and an entirely separate right of action to that of judicial review. You would have to cross that bridge and deal with it if it ever came up.

Before you decide to embark on any legal route, do be aware that the court has very stringent rules and timelines you will need to meet. Given your travels around the country, you need to be certain you can meet those timelines otherwise you run the risk of your claim being struck out and, worst case, paying for TFL's legal costs. For most legal proceedings, you can pre-prepare but you do need to set time aside to complete what you are doing. I always see that many people will leave things until the very last minute and then either try to fudge something or end up complaining that it is very unfair things didn't go their own way but that is really down to the individual not managing their time properly.

So you have some options, the question is what do you want to do.

[Cayman41]

Thank you for your response. When I called tfl regarding that I have evidence regarding payment. They brushed me off and advised that I can not send anything to them as now it needs to follow court process. The stat Dec out of time, did not mention regarding if payment paid or to include my defense. Just a reason why I filed in late. "The statement out of time " was referred to the court officer for a decision without a hearing, under part 75.5 (1) of the civil procedure rules. And that court officer is not required to give refusal explanation. That sounds silly but this is exact what was written HM Courts & Tribual service part with TEC. It stated I can apply for a review of this decision and the route is N244 process with either £275 to be heard by judge or without for £108. By the time this refusal was sent within 14 days I had to file n244 but letter was received after 16days. I contacted TEC and explained, they concluded to yet send. Honestly I gave up and I just became unaware of this whole situation. Now it's been over 7 months this is now when maarstons turned up requesting 559.00 balanced owed. I want to keep costs to minimum as I yet remember I did pay why pay more to prove this. I appreciate the options you have advised. Shall I file the n244 and explain I have crucial evidence from my bank and pay the £108 or is just too late?. Today I spent message to Marstons, advising to put the account on hold until I receive update from TEC if I can start the n422 or send them a letter that I be not paying "SEND ME TO COURT" worst comes worst if my luck is bad. Could I say that I want to go jail as I refuse to pay something which was paid but than merchant returned the payment. Help