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Original poster

HELP!!! Being charged £230 for my husband using the Dartford Tunnel!!!

190 replies

Happyland8 · 20/08/2018 19:18

Please help.

I'm not a driver & have never driven on the dartford tunnel so none of this is making much sense to me.

DH is in the Army and is deployed just now. We moved house at the end of last year but today I accidentally had a parcel delivered to my old address, when I went to collect it, they had some mail for us.

Anyway, there were 2 letters saying that DH must pay £115 immediately as he has been charged for not paying to use the dartford tunnel. The incident happened back in April (just as our mail redirection stopped unfortunately) and now it's 2 fines of £115 which we really can't afford.

I can't believe a £2.50 toll road could escalate to this. It has also been reviewed in court without our knowledge so that's also a black mark against DH's name unless I can appeal this.

Has anyone been through this? I'm feeling so upset and stressed by this. We aren't home owners yet and I don't want this to affect us getting a mortgage and I just don't know what I'll do if they don't let us off with it Sad

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Dilemmacentral · 20/08/2018 21:33

The OP does not stand a chance in having the payment written off.

The scenario has arisen because the dvlA has not been updated with change of address - which is an offence in itself.

winecigsandchoc · 20/08/2018 21:34

I would talk to SSAFA or he AFF and appeal under the armed forces covenant. It protects military families from being discriminated against because of a serving person. If you moved because of his job and he was driving because of Work reasons then that may fall under it as if he wasn't in the Forces this wouldn't have have happened.

CressidaEgg · 20/08/2018 21:35

Laiste - I cross posted whilst OP was uploading the letter so it's now apparent that it's not gone to Court as she previously thought.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Driving & parking
Kardashianlove · 20/08/2018 21:36

It’s your DH who needs to appeal but along the lines of ‘crossing on x date, not familiar with the area, first time through the tunnel. Posted overseas on x date so didn’t receive letters and therefore unable to pay/respond’. I wouldn’t complicate things by saying about chance of address etc. I guess you’ll likely get it waived but phone ASAP and also send recorded delivery letter ASAP.

meadowmeow · 20/08/2018 21:40

I’m talking about a complete separate fine that the op is liable for.

Yes I know. It's totally irrelevant to the situation.

AliceLutherNeeMorgan · 20/08/2018 21:41

Can I also suggest also just checking the situation with insurance?

I’ve never had a lease car but changing your address does change your insurance and the underwriter needs to know and adjust accordingly. An ANPR will have shown the car as insured but you don’t want the company to backtrack and say you haven’t been insured since you moved. Or is that not relevant with a lease car?

Nesssie · 20/08/2018 21:50

Just for the pps asking,

They’ve taken away the paybooths and barriers making the traffic so much better for commuters.

There are more than enough signs and warnings on both approaches so those saying they didn’t realise probably shouldn’t be driving if they miss those Hmm

You can pay in advance or before midnight the day after.
You can pay online, by phone, by post or in certain shops. Plenty of ways for those that don’t have have access to internet.

The first time you forget and get fined you can apply online or over phone to be given another chance to pay. They are usually quite good if it’s your first time or you have a valid excuse.

Iwantaunicorn · 20/08/2018 21:54

Call dart charge
Change driving licence to New address
Change log book to new address
Change insurance fo new address

When you call dart charge explain the situation. I sincerely doubt they’ll give a shit about where the car was registered, they just want their money.

Open up a dart account, register your reg number and set it to automatically debit your card if your car ever makes a crossing again. Remember to cancel it when you get rid of the car!

Dilemmacentral · 20/08/2018 22:08

meadowmeow

Not at all

Dilemmacentral · 20/08/2018 22:09

As in your statement is not at all correct
We will just have to agree to disagree

Rugmaster · 20/08/2018 22:22

OP please don't panic. It's not a CCJ. I've dealt with the traffic enforcement court twice before over unpaid parking fines.

You (or your husband) whoever's name is on the fine needs to go to a solicitor to sign an oath and sign the form TE9 in front of them. The solicitor will then countersign it. It costs less than £5. You need to tick the option where it says you did not get the original fine. They really are not going to tell the DVLA - they don't care. This form needs to be sent back to the court on time - looks like 24th August.

You will then recieve a letter in a few weeks saying that the court has sent the fine back to Dart Charge that has to then start the procedure from the beginning - sending you the first warning letter about not paying the Dart Charge (this time to the right address) The worst that would be is a small fine (£60ish) or they might just want the £2.50 (or whatever the charge is).

Please call the court. They were lovely to me when I called in a state and I am sure there is a way to extend this if it is your husband that is on the fine.

PickwickThePlockingDodo · 20/08/2018 22:34

There will be a V5 (the car registration and keeper document) as that comes to you regardless of whether your car is leased or not

We lease a car and have never had the V5 doc, it is held by the leasing company.

RebelRogue · 20/08/2018 23:24

It's how they make most of their money.

OP ring and explain and see what they say,of no joy just pay the fine.

imip · 20/08/2018 23:30

Haven’t read the whole thread, which I know is really naughty! But for anyone who has been charged and sure it wasn’t them driving, we were ‘caught’ driving over the dart ford bridge and charged. However there was no way we did it. No family we’d loan the car to. Car hadn’t been stolen. We stressed out for s couple of days and then realised the car in the photo had a different grill to ours and we were able to prove our car had been cloned. Indeed it is true that our car registration has been cloned to a be same model car as ours. No idea why as the original cost of crossing the bridge (twice, I think) was less than a tenner. Crazy!

safariboot · 21/08/2018 01:46

So your DH drove the vehicle across the Dartford crossing and he is the registered keeper of the vehicle? And the letter's addressed to him?

Unless the first letter regarding the penalty arrived after your DH was deployed, I think he's going to have to pay up. It was his responsibility to pay the charge in the first place and his responsibility to update the address on the V5C. If he can't pay up by the 24th August deadline because he's currently deployed, you might try and get more time but I can't see him getting out of the charge.

(The address on his driving license is not relevant. Dart Charge have no way of knowing who the driver was, only who the registered keeper is. The penalty charge is sent to the keeper's address.)

Lycrasock · 21/08/2018 07:39

I’ve been in the same situation. Just as a warning - they send bailiffs around a lot sooner than you’d expect!

They will NOT negotiate on the amount due but they did let me pay half on the spot and set up a repayment plan for the rest.

It will be a lot more after the bailiffs have been, my £5 dart charge ended up costing me near £600.

However - I did NOT get a CCJ, so at least that’s one thing not to worry about.

CrispsAndDip · 21/08/2018 10:44

If you pay a CCJ within 30 days of issue it will be removed from your file.

LaDaronne · 21/08/2018 11:35

Does anyone know how it works if you're driving a foreign car? Our car is registered abroad, never paid the dart charge because we cross the tunnel to get to somewhere rural where there's no internet. Seems like a horribly unfair system. What if you're not internet savvy or not fluent in English?

greendale17 · 21/08/2018 11:45

Seems like a horribly unfair system. What if you're not internet savvy or not fluent in English?

^It is not unfair whatsoever. And it is isn’t even hard to understand the system.

Kewqueue · 21/08/2018 11:54

Does anyone know how it works if you're driving a foreign car?
The same as for British cars! It's pretty easy to pay and there are so many signs up about the payment that it's hard to see how anyone could not realise.

LaDaronne · 21/08/2018 12:08

I'd be perfectly happy to pay at a toll booth. What I'm not happy to do is after driving a day to get to my holiday destination is strap the kids back in the car within 24 hours to drive around remote countryside until I find an internet connection. Not everyone has a smartphone and internet access, and not everyone speaks English. Not everyone is looking for signs along the road they don't expect to be there, and the few signs there are are often hidden by lorries. Why not just put back in a couple of toll booths like there used to be?

Originalsaltedpeanuts · 21/08/2018 12:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 21/08/2018 12:24

What I'm not happy to do is after driving a day to get to my holiday destination is strap the kids back in the car within 24 hours to drive around remote countryside until I find an internet connection.

Pay before you leave then. Surely everyone who drives a long or unfamiliar journey plans ahead.

I regularly drive through France and before we set off I work out which toll roads I’ll be using.

I will be using the Dartford crossing tomorrow and have already checked the balance on my account to ensure that I have enough credit.

BuggerOffAndGoodDayToYou · 21/08/2018 12:27

(can't think of many other things you buy where the ONLY option is to pay online)

It’s not the only option, you can pay in cash at Payzone stores which are countrywide.

LaDaronne · 21/08/2018 13:10

I had no idea paying in advance was an option, I'll do that in future. Though FFS, like I need another fucking plate to juggle.

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