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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To pay a fine issued to me by mistake for an easier life

107 replies

Scuttlingherbert · 04/03/2023 11:57

I received a letter saying I had to pay a fine for using a toll road without paying. There's a photo of what looks like my car on the letter.

Initially I completely assumed it was right but did think it was strange, as I didn't think I'd ever used the road in question. Showed it to my husband because he also drives my car.

We did a bit of detective work. Looked up where this road is on a map and we've definitely never been there! (Although it's in our city so it's feasible.)
Went back through various phone apps and my diary to figure out what we were doing at that time. It was a Sunday morning and I was in bed as I'd been up all night with the baby. My husband was out with her on a long walk. My called me 1 minute before the photo was taken, saying he was about to go into Sainsbury's. He never uses the phone whilst driving.

When I looked at the photo more closely, it's hard to tell as it's black and white but the car in the photo looks red whereas my car is silver. The car in the photo is also really clean! Mine is approaching it's annual wash.
Then I remembered my car has one wing mirror that is the wrong colour (the casing) because the previous owner broke it and replaced it with a black one. In the photo it looks like both wing mirrors are the same colour.
Looking at the number plate, it looks like mine but the last letter looks a bit weird. It's not this but say it's meant to be an R, this looks like a P with a mark on.

I put my number plate into the MOT checker but with a P instead of an R and the car that came up was the same make and model as mine but red, like in the photo.

The fine is £75 but if I pay it really soon I only have to pay £2.50, which was the original toll.

My husband thinks we should dispute it and he knows quite a bit about ANPR from his job. I'm tempted to pay the £2.50 for an easy life because I'm not sure how much hassle it will be to dispute it?
I'm crap at life admin and it feels like it's endless at the moment as we've just moved and are planning to move again. I have a full time job which is very full on emotionally, in healthcare and just got a promotion, plus I've started doing some extra hours of teaching on a healthcare course, plus we have a 1 year old. My husband has just had a promotion as well.
In the teaching job, there's about to be loads of extra life admin as the employer has just changed so I have to do all the ID check, occ health, DBS bollocks again.

I expect someone's number plate just looks like mine because of a bit of dirt or something and it's not deliberate. But it could be deliberate so that makes me think I should pursue it. The wing mirror thing makes it quite easy to prove I think.

What would you do?

YABU = don't pay it
YANBU = pay it

OP posts:
Bluebirdiee · 04/03/2023 12:22

I would 100% dispute it. If it's the toll area I'm thinking of, they allow you to pay the toll fee the first time you don't pay it. But if you do it again you actually start getting fines through the door.

I assume this person will drive back down the toll road at some point and also forget. I think there is a fair chance it's going to turn into much more of a headache if you pay it than if you take the time to dispute it now.

SoupDragon · 04/03/2023 12:23

I'd dispute it.

I'm curious as to how you can tell the car is red from a black and white photo though!

Daftasabroom · 04/03/2023 12:27

£2.50 is 12 minutes work at the living wage.

SleepingStandingUp · 04/03/2023 12:27

How much, in terms of effort and time is the appeal, a cost? How much is validation you're right worth? How much is just getting it sorted worth?

For me I'd just pay it.

Walkaround · 04/03/2023 12:28

Dispute it - you have already done the work to prove it is not your car, so it really isn’t time consuming to send that evidence back. They are not going to take you to court when it is self-evidently the wrong car, they will just write back to you confirming the fine is no longer applicable.

Mrsweasleysclock · 04/03/2023 12:31

Haven't rtft so sorry if someone has said this already. The £2.50 is a first time offence penalty. If you pay it this time and it happens again you'll have to pay £75 next time. Also, paying this time takes away the chance of you getting the £2.50 first time offence if you do genuinely forget to pay if you drive there one day.

I would appeal. If you're successful then no charge, if unsuccessful then pay the £2.50.

IsAGirlMumma · 04/03/2023 12:36

I wouldn't pay it. I would report to the police, someone is using your number plate, this could be the first of many tickets/fines to come.

We had similar a few years back. The same colour car. But different alloys. I think we had 3 different fines in the end. The police ref helped get them all cancelled.

LabiaMinoraPissusFlapus · 04/03/2023 12:38

The thing is the £2.50 let off may be for a 'first time offence' of forgetting to pay. This would mean that if you then drive on this road in the future and forget to pay, you might not get the £2.50 option. I had this once and was told the cheap option was for a first time forgetting only.

Geranium1984 · 04/03/2023 12:38

Pay £2 50 and it's done. You'll waste sooooo much time, even if you have to write one email.

FirstnameSuesecondnamePerb · 04/03/2023 12:39

I would pay the £2.50. If it happened again, I'd do something about it.
DP would be outraged, say he was going to challenge it, wouldn't get round to doing it and end up paying hundreds

Aprilx · 04/03/2023 12:40

I would pay the £2.50 for a quiet life.

cheeseisthebest · 04/03/2023 12:43

I would dispute it because it could happen again and you are admitting liability when it's not your car, next time could be a lot more money.

WeCome1 · 04/03/2023 12:43

I’d pay it. If it happens again you can then say you looked into it more carefully.

Blinkingheckythump · 04/03/2023 12:44

For £2.50 I wouldn't have even put in the effort to look into like you have.

Hankunamatata · 04/03/2023 12:45

Id pay £2.50. Dh would dispute it

Fansandblankets · 04/03/2023 12:49

I wouldn’t pay. My son has a motability car. When I picked it up from its annual service I noticed the number plate was different. I was confused and the dealer confirmed it had had the wrong number plate on it for a whole Year! 2 cars had had the same plate put on when the cars had come into the showroom.

Zodfa · 04/03/2023 12:53

It's definitely a real toll and not some sort of scam? There aren't too many toll routes in the UK and most of them are bridges/tunnels - and most of the ones in cities I think you'd know about if you lived locally. I think this is probably a definitive list: www.gov.uk/uk-toll-roads .

gettingolderandgrumpier · 04/03/2023 12:54

you appeal it , once it’s appealed the fine doesn’t increase . It only increases if you leave it and don’t deal with it within the 14 days or whatever if gives you .
it happens where I work we get pcns and there was one recently when we saw the picture the number plate was wrong think KL rather than Lk it was a completely different vehicle. It was appealed and cancelled.

toomanydicksonthedancefloor1 · 04/03/2023 12:54

Don't pay this. We had this happen recently and the number plate was clearly the same as ours, the type of car exactly the same. This was in London and our car is locked in a garage in Yorkshire and hasn't been used for months. It's common in areas where there is congestion charging or toll roads. People look up the same car on Autotrader and have the same number plates made (ours was for sale at the time on autotrader). The Met were extremely helpful and asked for photos of our car and the number plates and V5. They used some kind of forensic digital software and compared the vehicles and were happy our car had had the plates cloned and they were 2 different vehicles. The only bad thing was that they then put a police marker against our reg number which means it's likely to be pulled over randomly. However the buyer of our car put a private reg on it so wasn't bothered anyway.

toomanydicksonthedancefloor1 · 04/03/2023 12:54

If you pay it you're saying not was your car and it will likely keep happening.

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 04/03/2023 12:56

I'd be worried about it happening again. Not sure disputing it would prevent that, though.

Alargeoneplease89 · 04/03/2023 12:56

£2.50- definitely pay it.

Travelfan2021 · 04/03/2023 13:00

This reply has been withdrawn

This post has been withdrawn at the poster's request due to privacy concerns.

SpookyBlackCat · 04/03/2023 13:02

I can see why you can’t be bothered but it sounds like you e already done most of the hard work. Will your husband write the appeal email for you?

senua · 04/03/2023 13:07

You could probably have appealed it in less time than it took to write that lengthy opening post!