Congestion Charge Refund Repaid by Cheque

[Icequeen01]

I have a TFL autopay account set up and a couple of days ago I noticed I had had a charge taken directly out of my bank account for £12.50 when I hadn’t been in the congestion charge area. They put a photo of the registration number of the car being charged on your account and I could see it was a very similar registration number but the last letter was wrong so I appealed the charge.

TFL have responded today agreeing it’s not my car but stated they will refund my money by cheque! They took the charge directly out of my bank account so why on earth can’t they pay it back into my bank account? My nearest bank is 12 miles away. Are they relying on the fact that most people won’t bother paying the money into their bank account? I know it’s a small amount but this has really irked me!

You can pay cheque in using banking app

You can also pay bank cheques in at a Post Office.

Can you? Well I never knew that! I will look into this, thank you.

I thought I had heard that ours had stopped doing this but I will check that if I’m unable to pay in using my bank’s app as suggested by a previous poster.

The Post Office website says it’s one of their services.
https://www.postoffice.co.uk/everydaybanking

Aaah thank you. Perhaps I will stop moaning now. I still can’t understand why they can’t just put it back in my bank account seeing as they took it out from there in the first place. It’s only a tiny amount so it’s not the money it’s the principle! 🤣

No, I agree with you, if they can take it directly out of your account, they should be able to return it directly. Sending a cheque just delays the repayment and gives you another ‘job’ that costs you time, and possible parking charge, that you didn’t need. Unnecessary nuisance.

I can never get the cheque payment on the bank app to work. Last time I posted it to the nearest branch which is silly in this day and age

This is very frustrating OP but I’ve easily cashed cheques into my account using both HSBC and NatWest recently - it was quite straightforward but took a couple of days to clear

It’s great! You just take a photo of the front and back and wait a couple of days. So handy.

It still would be easier if they’d refunded to the account that they took it out of!

You could complain and get the money paid directly but it’ll probably take longer than it would for the cheque to clear

I did the taking a photo thing and it kept saying it hadn’t worked. Luckily mine was only a tenner from the Cats Lottery. It did appear in my account

Yes it's very easy to do on the app. Cheques have virtually vanished in general, but my 90 year old Grandad still sends my kids a cheque every birthday 😄😍so I use this feature about 3 times a year!

It’s so easy. You just scan it (certainly with my bank you do)

DVLA do the same but as the back of their cheque is blank, you can't pay it in using a bank app. Really old fashioned

Aren’t most cheques blank on the back? It’s not a problem with the Lloyds banking app - just send a picture whether or not it’s blank!

With Starling, you write name and account number on the back then photograph front and back. Usually clears next day.

With Barclays you just photo both sides - one of which will be blank - and hey presto, the money's cleared within a day usually.