I forgot to pay the dart charge, what happens now?

[LG93]

We went through the Dartford crossing twice on Thursday (return trip) so was due to pay the charge by midnight last night. What with baby brain and leaving for my friends hen do I completely forgot to do it yesterday. I've just done it, so about 10 hours late.

What happens now? Is there any sort of grace period? Or will we get a massive fine? It's really annoying as we were in DH's car, mine is on my account and registered to auto pay from my card but his car is new so wasn't on there. I've added it for future trips now!

Don’t worry, we did this a few years ago (forgot to add a new company car to the fleet account!) I phoned them up and they said to wait until we got a letter. The letter explained that as this was a ‘first offence’ and probably just an oversight we could pay just the charge itself if we did it within X days, or words to that effect. It was about 3 years ago, but hopefully nothing has changed.

Give them a call and put your mind at ease.

I got a letter saying as it was a ‘first offence’ they would wipe the fine as long as I paid the usually crossing price within 7 days of the letter.
However - I only made one journey, I don’t know if they would count a return journey in the same way.

Call them OP, they are usually really helpful. It maybe worth you setting up an acccunt so when you use the crossing it’s automatically debited.

Call them up, they're very lenient!

Might be worth posting in legal.

I think (not sure) that as you have paid before the letter saying that you haven't paid has arrived, there is technically no debt to chase.

You wait for the letter and send a reply with a copy of the printed confirmation of your payment.

Or give them a ring and see what they say. But record date time and the name of the person taking the call etc.

Thanks everyone, called and spoke to a lovely man who was very helpful.

He's transferred my payment from this morning to my account but said it won't count towards Thursdays crossing as the payment window has closed. He's confirmed I'll just get a letter asking me to pay the £5 and if I do that they'll say no more about it. Very relieved! Thanks for your help, it wouldn't have occurred to me phone them I'd have just spent the next however many weeks worrying! I've added it to my auto pay account with my other car so at least we're sorted for future trips!