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Hi everyone,
I feel like ive been led down the garden path by highways England over an unpaid crossing on the Dartford Bridge. I crossed the bridge twice on the 08/11/16 and twice again on the 11/11/16. I forgot to pay for the crossings on the 8th but did go onto the dartcharge website on the 11th and paid for the two crossings for that date (the only two showing for my vehicle). A few weeks later I received a PCN stating I had crossed the bridge 11/11/16 without paying the toll. At this point I checked my bank statement and could clearly see I had paid on that date. I had completely forgotten I had crossed on the 8th and it did not show this crossing on there website and what more it did not say this date on the PCN. So I carried out an appeal maintaining I had paid for the crossings on the date of the PCN. The appeal was rejected and the fine escalated to £70 per crossing. I refused to pay this and showed proof of my payment on the 11th but this was still disregarded by highways England. The pcn then went to the traffic enforcement centre and the bailiffs were sent to recover a whopping £420. I tried again to reason with dartcharge at this point pleading with them to check there records and stop this action. It was only at this point (June 2017) that they informed me when I had paid for the two crossings they had allocated that money to the crossings I had made on the 08/11/16. When I asked why the crossings made on the 08/11/16 were not showing on there site on the 11/11/16 they told me it was to ensure people could not pay the standard fee late and avoid a pcn. Surely this is a huge contradiction, if the crossings were not showing on the payment site why should they be allowed to allocate funds to those crossings without notifying me. If I had been notified the pcn was for crossings I had made on the 08/11/16 I would of realised my error and paid the £35 per crossing pcn as that was an error on my part. Instead they kept up the argument I had not paid for my crossings on the 11/11/16.
I recently paid £420 to the bailiff for fear my work vehicle would of been removed or clamped.
Do you think I have a chance to get this money back as the way the authorities dealt with this case was truly misleading, and confusing.
Also I have been informed there is still an outstanding payment for one of the crossings on the 08/11/16 but when I offered to pay this over the phone I was told I could not but "it doesn't look like this one will be escalated to a PCN". This is worrying, can they come after me for another £70 by way of a PCN for this crossing.
I know this case is confusing but any advise would be most appreciated.
I feel like ive been led down the garden path by highways England over an unpaid crossing on the Dartford Bridge. I crossed the bridge twice on the 08/11/16 and twice again on the 11/11/16. I forgot to pay for the crossings on the 8th but did go onto the dartcharge website on the 11th and paid for the two crossings for that date (the only two showing for my vehicle). A few weeks later I received a PCN stating I had crossed the bridge 11/11/16 without paying the toll. At this point I checked my bank statement and could clearly see I had paid on that date. I had completely forgotten I had crossed on the 8th and it did not show this crossing on there website and what more it did not say this date on the PCN. So I carried out an appeal maintaining I had paid for the crossings on the date of the PCN. The appeal was rejected and the fine escalated to £70 per crossing. I refused to pay this and showed proof of my payment on the 11th but this was still disregarded by highways England. The pcn then went to the traffic enforcement centre and the bailiffs were sent to recover a whopping £420. I tried again to reason with dartcharge at this point pleading with them to check there records and stop this action. It was only at this point (June 2017) that they informed me when I had paid for the two crossings they had allocated that money to the crossings I had made on the 08/11/16. When I asked why the crossings made on the 08/11/16 were not showing on there site on the 11/11/16 they told me it was to ensure people could not pay the standard fee late and avoid a pcn. Surely this is a huge contradiction, if the crossings were not showing on the payment site why should they be allowed to allocate funds to those crossings without notifying me. If I had been notified the pcn was for crossings I had made on the 08/11/16 I would of realised my error and paid the £35 per crossing pcn as that was an error on my part. Instead they kept up the argument I had not paid for my crossings on the 11/11/16.
I recently paid £420 to the bailiff for fear my work vehicle would of been removed or clamped.
Do you think I have a chance to get this money back as the way the authorities dealt with this case was truly misleading, and confusing.
Also I have been informed there is still an outstanding payment for one of the crossings on the 08/11/16 but when I offered to pay this over the phone I was told I could not but "it doesn't look like this one will be escalated to a PCN". This is worrying, can they come after me for another £70 by way of a PCN for this crossing.
I know this case is confusing but any advise would be most appreciated.
